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SIX YEARS 



IN THE 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, 



AND 



TWO YEARS 



ISLANDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN 
AND IN ASIA MINOR : 

CONTAINING 

▲ YIEW OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE POPISH CLERGY IN 

IRELAND, FRANCE, ITALY, MALTA, CORFU, ZANTE, 

SMYRNA, &C. 

WITH ANECDOTES AND REMARKS 

ILLUSTRATING SOME OF THE PECULIAR DOCTRINES OP THE 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

BY REV. S. I. MAHONEY, 

LATB A CAPUCHIN FRIAR IN THE CONVENT OP THE IMMACULATE 

CONCEPTION AT ROME. 



Ov% dvSdvei tov Aaifiovus ovaviv ~d ^prjaKEveiv. 
A superstitious worship is not pleasing to God. 

Greek Proverb. 



BOSTON: 

JORDAN, SWIFT AND WILEY. 

18 45. 



a! 5 



PREFACE. 



V 

Among the many works lately published in this country on 
the subject of the Roman Catholic church, not one, it has been 
observed, is fitted to give the Protestant reader a just notion 
of the leading features of that religion. It is not enough, in 
order that Protestants may justly appreciate the blessings of 
gospel freedom, to lay open to the world the conduct of some 
few of the clergy — -to hold up, to the execration of the public, 
the vices practised within the well secured cloisters of nuns, 
and to expose the artifices and impositions of priests — but it is 
also necessary to make it clear, that such effects are the neces- 
sary consequences of the system itself. And who can better 
fulfil that duty (for duty it certainly is) than some one who 
formerly belonged to the Romish priesthood 1 The author of 
the following pages often wished to see the subject taken up by 
abler hands than his own, but his wishes have been hitherto in 
vain. Having spent a great part of his life — from his sixteenth to 
his twenty-third year — secluded within the walls of a monastery, 
and having been educated in the capital of popery, he offers to 
the public the following pages — a narrative of his own life and 
experience — hoping they may serve as an antidote against the 
sly and plausible endeavours of popish priests, who, even in 
this free country, with the true spirit of their church, wish, and 
are daily endeavouring to subvert the faith of unstable Protest- 
ants. If he succeed in fully impressing on the minds of Pro- 
testants the dangers of popery, and in unmasking the plausible 
excuses of its advocates, he will not consider his labour as 
thrown away. If he succeed in saving one, only one, whether 
Protestant or Romanist, male or female, from the dangerous 
gulf of monachism, he will think himself more than repaid. 
Recommending the work to the Father of light, who sees the 
purity of his intentions, and without whose aid no beneficial 
results can follow from it, he submits himself and it to a reli- 
gious and discerning public. 

6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I 

Introduction — The Author's hirth and education — Dedication of 
children — Evil effects thereof — Two instances — First confession — Its 
effects on the Author's mind — The Capuchin Superior in Ireland — 
Meddling of priests in private families, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Departure for Rome — My father's last words at parting — Reflections 
— Arrival in Paris — French clergy — State of religion in France — Dis- 
respect shown to the clergy by the French — An instance of it — Lyons 
— Conversation with an innkeeper — His description of French reli- 
gion — French Protestants — Church of Lyons — Arians — Conversion 
of 1500 Papists — Their return to popery — For what reason — Present 
revivals, .......... 7 

CHAPTER III. 
Arrival at Rome — Cardinal Micara, General of the Capuchins — How 
received by him — The lay-brother cicerone — In what department of 
curiosities he excelled — Removal to Frascati — Description of Frascati 
and its environs — Reception — The English not Christians — How ex- 
plained — Italian civility to strangers — Taking the habit — Ceremonies 
used on that occasion, ........ 12 

CHAPTER IV. 

Rule of St. Francis — Reasons for being unable to obtain a sight 
of it before receiving the habit — Tradition attached to it — Francis' 
conversation with the miraculous crucifix — Pope Honorius — Canoni- 
cally elected popes — Infallibility — Lents — Wonderful change of flesh- 
meat into fish, 19 

CHAPTER V. 
Continuation of the rule — Monkish vow of poverty — How observ- 
ed — Anecdote of a Carmelite — Masses — Obedience — Education of 
Novices — An ass turned into an ox — The tree of obedience, .. 25 

CHAPTER VI. 

What excited Francis to found his order — Benedictines — Santoni — 
State of the religious orders in the thirteenth century — State of the 
people — Francis' ambition, .31 

CHAPTER VII. 
Novitiate— Education of Novices — Master-novice — His qualifica- 
tions — Popish prayers — Canonization and Beatification — Canonical 
hours, 36 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Breviary — Its unwilling agency in leading many priests to the 

truth — Story of a Tyrolese monk — His conversion — The cause of it — 

Remarks upon it by a professor of theology — How a popish priest 

may commit seven mortal sins per diem, . . .42 

7 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Design of the Breviary — Pius V.'s bull — Extract from it — Marcel- 
lus — Life of Gregory the Great — His works — Life of Leo I. — His 
great exploits — Remarks thereon — Nunneries of Tuscany, . 47 

CHAPTER X. 

Continuation of extracts from the Breviary — Marcellinus — The 
pope sacrifices to idols — Why he could not be judged by the church- 
Infallibility, a species of impeccability — John — The testimony of a 
horse in favour of his claims — Remarks thereon — A sample of Gregory 
the Great's works — Review of the B ishop of Rome's claim to supremacy 
— Never acknowledged by the Greek church — Uninterrupted succes- 
sion — Imaginary popes manufactured, .... 54 

CHAPTER XL 

Continuation of extracts from the Breviary — St. Vincent Ferreri — 
Miracle — Suspension of the laws of nature — Remarks — Adoration of 
Vincent at Valencia — St. Anthony of Padua — Preaches to the birds- 
Hymn composed in his honour — His miracles — Sailing without ship 
or boat — Removal of mountains — St. Denis walking with his head in 
his hand — Shrine of an Italian saint — Concluding remarks on the 
Breviary, 61 

CHAPTER XII. 
Evils attending a monkish life — Novices kept in ignorance of the 
real state of a monk — Passions to which monks are subject — Hatred 
and anger — Ambition — Tragical story of two Tuscan monks — Method 
of conveying moral instruction — Narrative of an occurrence said to 
have taken place in the Capuchin convent of Frascati — Why the 
Capuchins wear beards — The wood of the true cross, . . 71 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Termination of Novitiate — Votes of the other monks required be- 
fore the novice can be admitted to profession — Ceremonies used at the 
profession of a monk — The monastic vows — Good and bad monks — 
Story of a bad monk — Monkish persecutions — The bad monk's flight 
from Turjn — How treated by the general at Rome — His secularization 
— Expenses incurred before he could obtain it — The bad monk turned 
into a zealous preacher of the gospel — Classification of monks, . 79 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Convents of study — The employment in which those monks who 
are void of talents are engaged — Monastic studies — Logic — Metaphy- 
sics — Its use in supporting popish doctrines — Dogmatic theology- 
Its evil tendency — Mutilation of Scripture — Purgatory — Popish 
theologians — Polemical divinity — Character of popish polemics — How 
they excuse themselves — Moral theology — Auricular confession — Its 
instrumentality in the support of priestcraft, . . .91 

CHAPTER XV. 
Continuation of remarks upon moral theology — Mortal and venial 
sins — Precepts of the church — Prohibition to sell flesh-meat on Fridays 
and Saturdays — Punishment of those who transgress the precept of 
fasting — Confession and communion — Sentence of excommunication 
— Number of popish sacraments — The Eucharist— Anathema of the 
Council of Trent against all who deny the real presence — Absurdity 
"of that doctrine — One hundred thousand Christs created every day— 



CONTENTS. IX 

Popish inventions for the support of the doctrine of Transubstantia- 
tion — The miraculous corporal — Miraculous particle — State of the 
Jews at Rome — A mule's testimony of the truth of the real presence 
— Anecdote of Rabelais — Sale of masses — Cost of a high mass — 
Reflections — The treatise upon oaths — No faith to be kept with here- 
tics — Dispensing power of priests — Murder of Protestant clergymen 
in Ireland — Jesuitical morality, ..... 100 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Reflections upon monastic studies — Extraordinary charity of those 
who endeavour to excuse doctrinal error — The young monk begins to 
see monachism as it really is — Schools in which he learns the secrets 
of monachism — Want of decorum in reciting the divine office — 
Gradual corruption of the young monk — Monks bons vivants — The 
manner in which the income of convents is spent — Belly versus 
Obedience, a scene in monkish life — Cardinal Micara in jeopardy — 
The foregoing scene dramatized — Calumny and detraction of monks 
— Their conversation in the refectory — Monkish luxuries obtained at 
the sacrifice of honour and virtue — Story of a young man, the victim 
of monkish calumny — Clerk of the kitchen — Manner of punishing a 
bad cook — Monkish fasting and abstinence — Lent — Dinners — Colla- 
tion — Monkish false pretensions, 116 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Effects of bad example — Its effect on the Author's mind — He seeks 
the advice of his confessor — The confessor's apology for the vices of 
his order — A word of advice from the same for the Author's private 
use — Tampering with the consciences of others, as practised in the 
confessional — The Author practises upon his confessor's advice — 
Falls into infidelity — Argues publicly against the existence of God — 
Becomes an object of suspicion to his fellow monks — Search made in 
his .room for heretical books and papers — Johnson's Dictionary con- 
victed of heresy — Ordination — Number of orders in the Romish church 
— In what the candidate for ordination is examined — Character 
of Mortsignor Macioti, Suffragan-bishop of Villetri — Episcopus in 
partibus, 129 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Jealousies and enmities of monks of different orders — Reasons for 
entertaining such hostile feelings against each other — Sample of 
monkish lampoons — The immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin 
— The Dominicans and Franciscans declare war against each other — 
Monkish imposture — Tragic story of Jetzer — The ghost of a Domini- 
can appears to him — Jetzer undergoes the discipline in order to 
redeem his brother's soul from purgatory — The virgin prior — Revela- 
tions made by the Virgin to Jetzer — He receives the five wounds that 
pierced Jesus on the Cross — Jetzer discovers the imposture — The 
Dominicans attempt to poison him — He flies from them, and seeks 
the protection of the civil authorities — The actors in the infernal plot 
burned alive — Jetzer's death — The use which the Franciscans make 
of the foregoing narrative — Number of religious orders — How distin- 
guished from each other — Division of monks — Number of the clergy 
in the capital of popery — Number of beggars, . . . 142 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Hope of salvation placed in being buried in a Franciscan habit — 
Story of a soul saved from eternal damnation through the merits of 
St. Francis-— Emoluments derived by the monks from the popular 



X • » CONTENTS. 

superstitions — Story of an heir who was struck dead for defrauding 
the Franciscans of their due — Ways practised by monks for promoting 
their own interests — Their tampering with the females of those families 
over which they have acquired influence — Story in illustration of the 
foregoing — Allurements held out- to females to enter nunneries — 
Monkish treachery illustrated — A young gentleman's own account of 
the snares laid by monks for himself, and his sisters — One of his sis- 
ters dies of a broken heart on discovering her mistake — Happy termi- 
nation of the young man's misfortunes, .... 152 

CHAPTER XX. 
Adoration and prayers to saints — Confirmed by the Council of 
Trent — Absurdity of that doctrine — Image-worship — Papists feally 
and truly idolaters — How they excuse themselves — Adoration of the 
statue of Saint Januarius at Naples — Blasphemous prayer addressed 
to Jesus Christ by the Neapolitans — Idol- worship practised by all 
false religions — Modern Greeks and Romans inexcusable — History of 
the rise and progress of image-worship in the church of Christ — 
Image-worship abhorred by the primitive church — Opinions of some 
of the early fathers on that subject — Images of saints admitted as 
ornaments in the churches in the beginning of the fifth century — 
Gregory the Great condemns image-worship — The monks of the 
eighth century establish image-worship by their own example — Edict 
of Leo, the Isaurian, concerning images — The priests and monks ex- 
cite the people to rebellion, in consequence of it — Leo orders all 
images to be publicly burnt — Image-worship favoured by popes — 
Iconoclastae, and Iconolatrae — Charlemagne declares against image- 
worship — Claudius, Bishop of Turin, orders all images to be cast out 
of the churches — Image-worship established by law in the eastern and 
western churches, and triumphs till the era of the reformation — Effects 
of the reformation on image- worship, . . . . 169 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Image-worship in the nineteenth century — Statue of St. Peter — 
Opinions as to its identity with one of the pagan divinities of ancient 
Rome — Story illustrating the vengeance which it takes on those who 
dishonour it — Another, whereby it becomes clear that his brazes 
saintship has the power of protecting his devout worshippers — Reflec- 
tions, ' 180 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Images of the Virgin Mary — La Santa Casa di Loretto — History of 
the Holy House — Income of the priests attached to it — Sale of vermin 
— The miraculous image of the Virgin Mary at Basil — Expedient of 
the priests for reviving the dying superstition — Letter of the Virgin 
Mary to a reformed clergyman — Notes explanatory of the foregoing 
letter — Late repentance — Litany of the Virgin — St. Peter, gate-keeper 
of heaven — Gulielmus — George — St. Anthony, protector of swine — 
Different offices assigned to the crowd of saints in the popish calendar 
— Reflections, 189 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Continuation of remarks upon image-worship — Popish unity — 
Madonna della lettera at Messina — The Virgin Mary a linguist — Gopy 
of the Virgin's letter to the Messinians — Translation of the foregoing 
— Spain, and its idolatries — Spanish Jesuits — Spanish form of saluta- 
tions — Portugal — Don Miguel favoured by the priests — A miracle 
wrought in confirmation of his authority — The Virgin delivered of a 
boy twelve years old — Effect of the discovery on Don Miguel's govern- 
ment — Concluding remarks upon image-worship, . . 202 



CONTENTS. Xi 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Relics — Practice of the primitive church — Relic-worship established 
by the pope — Manner of procuring saint-bodies — The three heads of 
John the Baptist — The offal of the charnel-houses made the object 
of a Christian's adoration — St. Crispin of Viterbo — St. Spiridione — 
Contest between the Greeks and Latins, for the possession of his body 
— Relic-worship at Malta — Maltese quack-doctor — Relics preserved 
in the church of St. John at Malta — Attempt to steal a relic- 
Anecdotes of the plague at Malta — Translation of a saint's body from 
the catacombs at Rome to Malta — Stupendous miracle performed by 
touching the foregoing body — Reflections — Milk of the Virgin Mary 
— Shrine of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury — Henry VIII. and his 
myrnfidons — Relation of the manner in which the Virgin's milk 
found its way to the monastery of St. Mary's, near Falmouth — Con- 
cluding remarks on relic-worship, . . . . . 213 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Indulgences — When first granted — Leo X. publishes indulgences- 
Form of indulgences — Language of indulgence-mountebanks — Ex- 
tract from the " Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery" — Dispute be- 
tween the Augustinians and Dominicans — Luther, and the reformation 
— Galileo Galilei — Decline of indulgences in Italy — The pope grants 
indulgences — gratis, because he could find no purchasers — The 
Cruzada — Spaniards obliged by the secular arm to purchase indul- 
gences — Probable income of the pope from the sale of indulgences in 
Spain — Bishops endowed with the power of granting and selling 
indulgences— Obliged to pay an annual rent to the pope — A bishop 
suspended from his functions, and confined to a convent, by reason 
of not being able to pay the pope's rent, .... 238 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Conscientious bishops — Monsignor Gondolfi — Maronites — Mon- 
signor Gondolfi sent in the character of apostolic delegate to the east- 
ern churches — Decline of popery and cause of that decline, among 
the Maronites — Gondolfi's instructions — Cunning of his holiness, 
cloaked under a love for the souls of the Maronites — Gondolfi's early 
life — State of the monks attached to the holy sepulchre, at Jerusalem 
— Gondolfi endeavours to reform them — The monks accuse him of 
heresy at the court of Rome — Obliged to be on his guard against the 
machinations of the monks — He removes to Mount Libanus — State 
of the Maronite clergy and people — Distribution of the Scriptures 
made by the Protestant missionaries among the Maronites — The 
Maronite clergy accuse Gondolfi at Rome — He is recalled, but refuses 
to obey — He is expelled from the convent — Arrival of his successor — 
Bibles burned by thousands — Gondolfi is poisoned by a Maronite 
priest — The Maronites report that his death was caused by the ven- 
geance of God — Indulgences for committing sin — Alexander VI. — 
Massacre of St. Bartholomew — Fra Paolo — Curious theological dis- 
quisition, 251 

CHAPTER XXVn. 
Departure from Rome — Refused permission to return to Ireland — 
Plan of escape — How executed — Arrival at Marseilles and Lyons- 
Geneva — Monsieur Cheneviere — Socinianism — English travellers on 

the continent of Europe— Rabbi M s, the conveited Jew — His 

perfidy — Arrival in London — Treatment received from false and per* 
fidious friends, " . . . 270 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
State of reHgion in Malta — Number of popish priests — Their ig- 
norance — Ignorance of the people — Bishop Caruana — Power of the 
pope in Malta — Anecdote of a Maltese attorney — Doctor Naudi — 
Maltese medical college — Naudi's treachery — He is found out by an 
English missionary — Maltese monks — Number of monasteries in 
Malta — Paulotists — Dominicans — Carmelites — Ignorance of the Mal- 
tese monks — Convent of Capuchins at Malta — Padre Pietro, the 
Capuchin Custode — Padre Calcedonio— Story of a child violated by 
him in Santa Maura — He is sent to the galleys — Remission of his 
sentence, through the influence of General Rivarola — Esteemed as a 
saint by the Maltese, 284 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Continuation of remarks upon the popish clergy of Malta — Their 
general incontinency — Father Butler, chaplain to the English forces at 
Malta — Meaning of the initials, " D. D." affixed to his name — Hia 
mania for making proselytes — Sam pie of popish conversions — A Pro- 
testant converted to popery after death — Another sample of Father 
Butler's way of making proselytes — Father Butler appears in a new 
character — Sir Dominick Ritual, and Sir Paul Text-book — Sir Domi- 
nick disgraces his knighthood — Concluding remarks on popery in 
Malta, 299 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Rev. Mr. Lowndes, Protestant missionary — Greek priests at Corfu- 
State of religion at Corfu — Popish clergy and archbishop— Conversa- 
tion with the popish archbishop — His attempt to wheedle me again 
into popery — My answer — Persecution by the popish priests, and its 
effect — Zante — Popish priests at Zante — Mr. Croggon, the Wesleyan 
missionary — Letter from Smyrna to Mr. Lowndes — The popish 
priests attempt to poison me — Effects of the poison — Departure from 
Zante — Arrival at Smyrna — Conclusion, .... 308 



SIX YEARS 



IN THE 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, &c. 



CHAPTER I. 



Introduction — The Author's birth and education — Dedication of 
children — Evil effects thereof — Two instances — First confession 
— Its effects on the Author's mind — The Capuchin Superior in 
Ireland — Meddling of priests in private families. 

t 
The religion of Rome, miscalled Catholic, a short 
history of which, as it exists in the monasteries and other 
popish institutions of Italy and the islands of the Medi- 
terranean, will form the subject of this book, is so well 
guarded by the passions— the attendants of human nature 
— that it requires more than an ordinary effort of the 
human mind to free itself from its galling trammels. It 
is indeed the religion of human nature, whether it be 
regarded in a temporal or spiritual light. If in the latter, 
the influence exercised over the minds of its members by 
a wily priesthood, and the dangerous security, so differ- 
ent from the gospel/ear and trembling, into which they 
are lulled by the organs of confession, and forgiveness 
by the mouth of a priest, fully prove that human nature 
is only flattered by its operations : if in the former, the 
numerous ceremonies so pleasing to the senses, the su- 
perstitious veneration in which its clergy are held, and 
the opportunities possessed by them of reconciling the 
people to every passing event, and which opportunities 
they never let slip ; all these form separate and convinc- 

2 1 



2 SIX YEARS IN THE 

ing proofs, that human nature is the foundation stone, on 
which the Romish church is built. The foregoing 
reflections were strongly brought to my mind, whilst 
considering my own peculiar case, and the difficulties I 
had to struggle with before embracing the blessed and 
consoling doctrine of justification through the all-atoning 
blood of Jesus Christ. To break not only through the 
prejudices of education, but also to set at defiance the 
workings of the passions by which the church of Rome 
is upheld, is, all must confess, no easy matter. How I 
have been able to accomplish that great task will be seen 
in the sequel. To the history of my early life, though 
it may contain many things, which worldly prudence 
would consider as best kept in my own bosom, yet as it 
is a picture — a faithful one too — of the education of 
Roman Catholic children in Ireland, and especially of 
those destined for the priesthood, I have no hesitation to 
give publicity. 

I was born in the city of C , Ireland. My father 

was a corn merchant of that city, respectably connected, 
though not rich. I am the last of five children, and was 
destined for the church from the hour of my birth. I 
say destined / for strange as it may appear, such a cus- 
tom of setting apart young children for the service of the 
church, prevailed and still prevails in Ireland, as well as 
in most parts of popish Europe. The child's inclination 
is never consulted, and how could it be, when his future 
profession is marked out, whilst he is yet an infant, and 
unable to judge for himself? If, however, he should refuse, 
when arrived at the age of understanding, to fulfil what 
his father had promised,* he is looked upon, not only by 
the members of his own family, but also by his neigh- 
bours and acquaintances, as one living in a state of alien- 
ation from God, and as one who never can have any 
success in the transactions of the world. I knew in Italy 
a young man — he belonged to Albano, a town in the 
papal states — who, not coming to the age of understanding 
till after his father's death, thought proper to consult his 

* The selecting of a new-born child for the priesthood is consi- 
dered as a vow, or promise. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 3 

own inclinations, and to decline the honour of the priest- 
hood, though his father, at his birth, had dedicated him to 
the church. Wishing afterwards to enter into the mar- 
ried state, he could find no young woman, his equal in 
rank, who could be prevailed upon to unite her lot with 
his. He was once on the point of being married to one 
of a neighbouring town, but when she came to the know- 
ledge of his having been destined by his father for the 
priesthood, she immediately broke off the match, although 
he was possessed of a handsome fortune, and very well 
able to maintain her respectably. All are taught, that a 
curse from on high would fall either on themselves or their 
children, should they unite themselves to one, promised 
from his infancy to God. I knew another — his name 
was Papi — , a young man of a most prepossessing ap- 
pearance, and possessed of a cultivated mind, who, refus- 
ing to become a priest, was absolutely turned adrift on 
the world by his father, and all this, because the latter 
had promised him to God from his infancy. Starvation 
at length obliged him to succumb to his father's wishes, 
and he was sacrificed — another unwilling victim — at the 
monstrous shrine of popular superstition. I saw him 
after his ordination, and he had no difficulty in complain- 
ing to me of the cruelty of his parents, who obliged him 
to embrace a profession for which he had no vocation. 
I could mention many other cases of this nature, which 
fell under my own observation, but the two related will 
be sufficient to show the evil effects necessarily following 
the dedication of children. 

My father, however, had no occasion to threaten me 
with such extremes, fori never resisted, but,'on the con- 
trary, was rather desirous of entering the church, though 
indeed had I murmured against fulfilling his vow, I am 
almost certain, that he, although the kindest and best of 
fathers, would have treated me with the same rigour, with 
which my friend Papi had been treated by his ; — such 
power have superstition and the erroneous ideas of reli- 
gion over even the best minds. 

It being then understood, that I was destined for the 
church, my earliest notions were formed by priests. 



4 SIX TEARS IN THE 

Every moment I could spare from my studies was spent 
either with them, or in some place under their direction. 
At ten years of age, I was taught to babble the answering 
of mass in Latin, and obliged to remain daily two or 
three hours at the chapel, as Roman Catholic churches 
are called in Ireland. Sunday was a day of trouble to 
me — not of devotion ; being forced to spend nearly the 
whole day serving masses, of which I very soon grew 
tired. Indeed, there was nothing in the repeating of 
words in Latin — a language I did not then understand — 
which could make amends for the trouble, and I often 
longed to be as free as my other brothers, who, not being 
intended for the church, were allowed to divert them- 
selves with their equals. The time for making my first 
confession now approached. I shall for ever remember 
with what a palpitating heart I first approached the seat 
of judgment — the confessional — called by Romanists 
" the tribunal of penance." How my young inexperi- 
enced heart, impressed with an exalted idea of the 
priest's power of forgiving sin, sank within me, as I 
knelt down at the feet of him, who, I was led to believe, 
represented the person of Jesus Christ. It remains still 
impressed on my mind, with what an authoritative tone 
of voice he questioned me on my most secret thoughts, 
reproving me for this and giving penance for that ; and 
how happy I felt, and how free from all care, when he 
pronounced in Latin the form of absolution. Yes, if an 
ignorance of my lost sinful state, and a reliance on man 
for salvation, can be called happiness, I was then happy 
indeed. But was my heart changed in the mean time ? 
Or did I feel a detestation of sin, and love the Lord 
Jesus for his own sake ? Quite the contrary ! I never 
thought about the necessity of a change of heart ; and 
my prayers were, by the advice of my father confessor, 
addressed to the Virgin and the Saints, and not to Him 
who alone is able to grant the humble penitent a true 
sorrow for sin, and to inflame his mind with a holy love 
for himself. So far from feeling a sorrow for sin, my 
ambition was only excited the more to become a priest, 
and thereby become vested with the extraordinary power 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY. ETC. 5 

of forgiving the sins of others ; thinking at the same time, 
that if I once had possession of the superhuman power 
of forgiving others, I could also, a fortiori, forgive my- 
self without being indebted to another person for that 
favour. Such were my peculiar feelings after my first 
confession, and such, I am confident, are the feelings of 
the greater number of Roman Catholics under similar 
circumstances. 

Having now nearly reached my sixteenth year, and 
having acquired as much Latin and Greek at a prepara- 
tory school, as was deemed sufficient for admittance to 
college, it began to be debated upon in the family circle, 
whether I should go to Maynooth, or rather be sent to 
Rome. The latter place was preferred ; and the reason 
it was so, it may perhaps be necessary to mention here- 
It will give the Protestant reader some idea of the influ- 
ence exercised by priests in those families with which 
they are intimate. 

A Capuchin friar, provincial of the order, in Ireland, 
was a frequent visiter at my father's house. He took 
particular notice of me, of course, as one destined to 
become a priest one day himself. He even, at my 
father's request, often examined me in the Latin gram- 
mar, and cried out " bravo, bravo," if I could conjugate 
amo, or decline musa. He took care, however, never 
to go farther in his examinations than the grammar, the 
reason for which I never could learn, unless it be, which 
is not improbable, that he knew no farther himself. 
When the subject of my removal to college began to be 
debated upon, he also gave his opinion, and of course 
decided in favour of his own order. The going so far 
from home (it being necessary to go to Rome, in order 
to become a member of his order) was for some time 
objected to ; but he being my father's confessor soon 
overruled that objection, by laying open the respectability 
of his order, and the powerful intercession of its founder 
St. Francis, and the happiness of having a son so inti- 
mately connected with the holy patriarch. These 
weighty reasons met with due attention from my father, 
and all thoughts of going to Maynooth college were soon 

2* 



6 SIX YEARS IN THE 

laid aside, and preparations were immediately made for 
my journey to Rome. I was not, at this time, old 
enough to see into the reason, that the old friar was so 
anxious that I should join his order, but I afterwards sus- 
pected it, when I became aware that the remittances of 
money sent to me by my father, passed through his 
hands. It is reasonable then to suppose, that he did not 
want for excuses to apply some of it tQ. his own private 
use. Whether he has done so, or not, I cannot assert 
with any certainty ; but this I am sure of, that I never 
received more than two-thirds of what my father, as I 
learned from his letters, had committed to him for my 
use. The deficiency was accounted for, by his being 
obliged to pay the postage of letters, sent by his friends 
in Rome, relative to me, and by his sending them some 
presents, to encourage them to continue their friendship 
and protection of me. I once complained to my father 
by letter of this deficiency, but the above reasons of the 
old friar's soon quieted him. To do him justice, he gave 
me a great many letters to his private friends at Rome, 
where he had studied himself some thirty years before, 
strongly recommending me to their friendship. He also 
in his capacity of superior of the order in Ireland, gave 
me an ubbedienza (so letters of admission into a monas- 
tery are called) directed to the general of the whole order 
at Rome. I would not be so particular in the relation of 
the foregoing circumstances had I not thought, that they 
show the Jesuitical pranks of priests, and the unworthy 
use they make of their influence over the minds of their 
deluded followers. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 



CHAPTER II. 

Departure for Rome — My father's last words at parting — Reflections 
— Arrival in Paris — French clergy — State of religion in France — 
Disrespect shownrfo the clergy by the French — An instance of it 
— Lyons — Conversation with an innkeeper — His description of 
French religion — French Protestants — Church of Lyons — Arians 
— Conversion of fifteen hundred Papists — Their return to Popery 
— For what reason — Present revivals. 

The day fixed for my departure at length arrived, and 
with a heart torn asunder by the contending emotions of 
joy and sorrow — joy for the sure prospect held out of 
arriving at the goal of my wishes, sorrow for leaving my 
father and mother, and those who were dearest to me — I 
embarked in my native city for Bristol — thence to proceed 
to Southampton, where I was to find the regular packet 
for Havre-de-Grace, and then proceed by land to Rome. 
My father's last words to me, spoken whilst I was in 
the act of going aboard the steamer, will ever remain in- 
delibly fixed in my memory. They were these, " Re- 
turn a priest, or never let me see you again." What 
words from the kindest and best of fathers ! Without 
considering whether, on further examination, I would 
feel inclined for such a profession, or whether I would 
not be rendered miserable all my life, if I acted in that 
respect contrary to my own inclinations, he laid his posi- 
tive injunction upon me " to return a priest" under pain 
of perpetual exile from him, and from those dearest to 
me. Yet he was the kindest and best of fathers in other 
respects ; indeed in every thing, where the influence of 
the Roman Catholic religion did not enter. But where 
that was in any way concerned, he always regulated his 
actions by the advice of the priests, and especially his 
confessor's ; who, to be sure, with the true spirit of their 
church, gave that advice which they thought most likely 
to promote its well-being; regardless whether this advice 
would not sow dissensions in families, and set father 



8 SIX YEARS IN THE 

against son, and wife against husband. — But such, it is 
well known, is popish morality. 

Upon my arrival at Havre, I immediately took a place 
in the diligence for Paris, which capital, if I well re- 
member, I reached after a journey of two days. I had 
letters for some Irish students and priests in the Irish 
college at Paris, and my first care, aftej: my arrival, was 
to deliver them. The greater part 6T these strongly 
advised me not to go to Rome, telling me many stories 
of the hardships, which I probably would have to endure 
there ; and of the very many, who went there on the 
same purpose as myself, but who returned before the 
expiration of a year, having made shipwreck of their 
faith and vocation. To all this I turned a deaf ear, 
being determined, whatever would be the consequence, 
to continue my journey, and judge for myself when 
arrived at Rome. Perhaps also my father's parting 
admonition helped me on to this decision. 

The disrespect with which the clergy are treated in 
France, and especially in Paris, very much surprised 
me. I had no idea that the men, who in Ireland are 
esteemed as demi-gods, could in France be exposed to the 
insults, not only of the common people, but also of the 
higher ranks, who forget that politeness natural to every 
Frenchman, when a priest is in question. I remember, 
whilst walking one day in the neighbourhood of the Pa- 
lais Royal at Paris, to have seen a great crowd collected 
in one spot. I went to see what was the matter. I saw 
an unfortunate man, whom I knew to be a priest from 
his dress, stretched in the street, and bleeding profusely, 
a carriage having thrown him down, and passed over one 
of his legs, whilst he was passing from one side of the 
street to the other. The crowd collected around him, 
rich and poor as they were, stood laughing at him, and 
seemingly rejoiced at his misfortune. He was unable to 
walk, so dreadfully was he bruised and mangled. Now, 
if the same accident had happened in Ireland to one of 
the same character, there is not a Roman Catholic, or 
Protestant either, I believe, in the country that would 
not feel honoured in bearing on his own shoulders to his 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 9 

house, the unfortunate sufferer. I mention this anecdote, 
in order to give some idea of the hatred and detestation 
in which priests are held in France. On relating the 
occurrence to my friends at the Irish college, they only 
made a laugh of it, saying, " that I was but yet a stranger 
in France, but were I to remain long in the country, I 
would soon become familiarized to such scenes." Indeed, 
they told me seriously, that there is more respect in 
France for the commonest porter that parades the streets 
in search of a load, than for a priest, however learned 
and pious. To one lately come from Ireland, called by 
the French priests, when comparing their own state with 
that of their Irish brethen, " le paridis des pretres" — the 
priest's paradise — such stories must have appeared won- 
derfully strange ; yet, in the course of my travels through 
other departments of France, I found that they were lite- 
rally true. Whilst at Lyons, where I remained some 
days before crossing the Alps into Italy, I put up at one 
of the hotels — the " hotel des Etats Unis" I believe it 
was called. Entering one evening into conversation with 
mine host, he asked me, what was my profession, and 
for what object I was going to Italy? I told him the 
plain truth. He then began sacre-ing all the priests in 
the world, calling them a parcel of knaves and impostors, 
and told me plainly, that if I were not going away the 
following day, he should be under the necessity of re- 
questing me to find another hotel, for he would not have 
his house contaminated by the presence of even an in- 
tended priest. He assured me, " that if a priest dared 
enter his house, he would throw him out through the 
window, lest the respectability of his hotel should be 
injured, if it were known abroad, that it had sheltered so 
detestable an animal as a priest." Tasked him, if he 
were a Roman Catholic ? " I am," he replied, " because 
my father was one, but I never go to mass, nor are there 
one hundred people in the town, who ever go to it." He 
added, that they remain Roman Catholics, because their 
fathers were so before them, but that they never follow 
any of the foolish doctrines of priests. It may per- 
haps be suspected, that this man was a solitary instance, 



10 SIX YEARS IN THE 

and that he did not speak the truth, when he told me — 
perhaps in order to deter me from becoming a priest — 
that his fellow townsmen were like himself. But farther 
inquiry fully convinced me, that he had spoken almost 
literally the truth, and I appeal to any traveller from this 
country, who may have taken the trouble to inquire about 
the state of religion in France, for the truth of his asser- 
tions and of his representations. So great is the disre- 
spect in which the French popish clergy are held by their 
countrymen, that no one of any qualifications by which 
he could earn a subsistence in any other way, would be- 
come one. The lame, the crippled, the stammerer, those 
who have not the spirit, or who are not able, to earn a 
subsistence by labour, in fine, those of the lowest grades 
in society, compose the greater number of the modern 
French clergy. If there be any thing like Christianity 
in France, it is to be found only among the few Protestants 
scattered through the country, and not, by any means, 
among the Roman Catholic population. A great many 
of the latter pass through life without any sense of reli- 
gion, and totally ignorant of the first principles of Chris- 
tianity. The Roman Catholic churches, though opened 
for form-sake every day, are almost empty, there being 
many Frenchmen who never saw the inside of a church, 
even through curiosity, during a long life. With some 
classes, infidelity is no longer the fashion. These make 
a show of religion, because they are unwilling to be 
thought unbelievers ; yet, if their creed be examined, 
they will be found to have as little belief in the doctrines 
of Christianity, as those who make open profession of 
infidelity. The prevalent opinion among* all classes is, 
that when a man dies, there is an end to him. They be- 
lieve not in the immortality of the soul ; yet some, to keep 
up the appearance of religion, are not unobservant of 
popish superstitions. There have always been Protest- 
ants at Lyons, St. Etienne, and Chalons ; but their inter- 
course with Roman Catholics has plunged them into the 
same state of irreligion as the latter, so that they retain 
nothing of Protestants but the name. They are nearly 
as far gone in infidelity as their popish fellow country 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 11 

men, and have the same disregard for the religious edu- 
cation of their children. The Protestants of Lyons were 
wholly Socinians till within a few years back. The 
theological colleges in which the pastors are educated, 
though very effective as far as learning goes, inculcate 
the Arian doctrines. When the divinity of the Saviour 
is denied, a disregard for the incalculable importance of 
his mission necessarily follows. An indifference about 
the gospel comes next, and from this the transition to 
absolute infidelity is very easy. Most French Protest- 
ants have been brought up in early life without any wor- 
ship at all, and thereby becoming almost all pure ration- 
alists, they countenance the church, more because they 
eannot do without the rites of marriage, baptism, and 
sepulture, than for any more cogent reasons. 

In the year 1826, on the occasion of the law of sacri- 
lege being promulgated in France, fifteen hundred 
Roman Catholics abandoned popery, and attached them- 
selves to the Protestant church of France — that is, to 
Arianism. The greater part of these returned to popery 
before the expiration of a year, and it would be a great 
wonder if they had not ; for surely a religion so flatter- 
ing to human nature as popery is, which lulls the con- 
science to sleep, and satisfies the religious propensities 
without taxing it, must have appeared infinitely prefer- 
able to the commonplace morality and frigid worship of 
those who deny the fundamental doctrine of Christianity 
— the divinity of its Founder ; which, if it be not a sine 
qua non, an essential article of a Christian's belief, 
Christianity itself is nothing better than a cunningly 
devised fable, put together to answer the purposes of 
designing men. The Protestant religion is reviving in 
France very much within these two years. Evangelical 
churches are established in many of the principal cities, 
and even Lyons itself, as much the hot-bed of Arianism 
as Geneva, has now to glory in no small number of de- 
voted, pious Christians. These with their minister were 
expelled from the only house of Protestant worship that 
existed at Lyons ; but they met afterwards in private 
houses, and continued to do so, till their numbers in- 



12 SIX TEARS IN THE 

creased, and they had been able to raise sufficient funds 
to build a church for themselves. They have now one 
large enough to contain the primitive flock, and also 
those who, attracted by the force of gospel truth, are daily 
uniting themselves to them, and deserting from the ranks 
of popery, Arianism, and infidelity. 



CHAPTER III. 

Arrival at Rome — Cardinal Micara, General of the Capuchins- — How 
received by him — The Lay-brother cicerone — In what department 
of curiosities he excelled — Removal to Frascati — Description of 
Frascati and its environs — Reception — The English not Chris- 
tians — How explained — Italian civility to strangers — Taking the 
habit — Ceremonies used on that occasion. 

It is foreign to the design of the present work to give 
an account of my journey, and a description of the differ- 
ent countries through which I passed on the route from 
Paris to Rome. Be it sufficient, then, to state, that I 
arrived in the latter city in about three months after my 
departure from Ireland. The journey is generally made 
in twenty days by those who are travelling on urgent 
business, but mine not being of that stamp, I stopped for 
some days in the different towns on the road. I rested 
five or six days at Turin, the first Italian town met with 
after descending from the Alps — and the capital of Pied- 
mont. The road afterwards lay through Alexandria, 
Genoa, Leghorn, Florence, &c, in each of which towns 
I remained some few days. Upon my arrival at Rome, 
I presented my letters and other credentials to the general 
of the Capuchins, who was just created a cardinal a few 
weeks before my arrival, by Leo XII., the then reigning 
pontiff. I believe he is still living, or, at least, was 
about six months ago. His name is Cardinal Micara, a 
native of Frascati, and esteemed the most learned theolo- 
gian of Rome. He is easily distinguished from the other 
cardinals, on account of his wearing a long, shaggy beard, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 13 

and mustaches, of which he seems to be very proud. I 
was received by him with very great kindness. He 
ordered a room to be immediately prepared for me in the 
convent, in which I was to reside during my stay at 
Rome ; giving me, at the same time, to understand that 
it was necessary for me to proceed to Frascati — the 
ancient Tusculum — to serve my novitiate. He, how- 
ever, allowed me the space of three weeks to see Rome 
and its curiosities before my departure ; giving orders to 
one of the lay-brothers to accompany me to the differ- 
ent places I wished to see. My lay-brother, however, 
proved a bad cicerone; for, although a Roman by birth, 
he knew as much about the real curiosities of ancient or 
modern Rome as a native of Otaheite. I had a great desire 
to see some of those places, which were rendered fami- 
liar to me by reading the Roman classics, but of these, 
alas ! my cicerone knew as much as the man in the moon. 
He made ample amends, however, for his ignorance of 
those things by an extensive knowledge of all the miracu- 
lous images of the Madonna, of the different crucifixes, of 
the relics of the saints, of the churches, where so many 
days' indulgences may be obtained, and the redemption of 
so many souls from purgatory, and all for the trouble of 
reciting a "pater noster." — But of these things, more in 
the sequel. After having seen a few churches, and some 
miracle working relics, I grew tired ; and having pur- 
chased " The Stranger's Guide through Rome," I sallied 
forth alone, and by the help of it, satisfied in some degree 
my curiosity. 

The time allowed me for the gratification of my curio- 
sity being now expired, I was summoned one morning 
very early to the presence of his eminence the cardinal. 
He received me with his usual kindness, and laughed 
very heartily when I related to him in French, which he 
spoke very fluently, the ciceronic lay-brother's want of 
knowledge in Roman antiquities. He told me, that I 
would have time enough to examine Rome, both ancient 
and modern, after my year's novitiate was ended, and 
that, until then, I should go to Frascati, and put on the 
seraphic habit— so the Franciscan habit is called. He 

3 



14 SIX YEARS IN THE 

earnestly advised me to apply myself to the study of 
Italian, and gave me an Italian grammar, and an Anglo- 
Italian dictionary, for that purpose. Holding out his 
hand to be kissed, and giving me his benediction, he then 
dismissed me, telling me to hold myself in readiness for 
my departure at four o'clock that same evening. The 
distance from Rome to Frascati being only twelve miles, 
I soon arrived there ; having already made up my mind 
to persevere in the primary intention, for which I had 
left my own country, whatever might be the conse- 
quence, or whatever the difficulties I should have to 
contend with. As Frascati and its neighbourhood was 
the scene of many of the occurrences which will be 
hereafter related, it may not be thought irrelative to give 
a hasty description of them. 

Frascati is situated in the Campagna di Roma, about 
twelve miles distant from " the holy city.'''' It is built 
nearly on the site of the ancient Tusculum, so well 
known as the place in which Cicero wrote his " Ques- 
tiones Tusculanae." The ruins of Tusculum, which are 
still extant, are about two miles from the modern city J 
yet it is supposed that the former, in the time of its an- 
cient splendour, extended as far as the plain, in which 
the latter is now built. It commands a' fine view of the 
surrounding country, especially from the Capuchin con- 
vent — the one in which I resided. There are in its im- 
mediate neighbourhood several splendid villas belonging 
to the Roman nobility, the principal of which are il pa- 
lazzo Borghese, belonging to the prince of that name, 
who seldom or never lives in it ; il palazzo Falconieri, 
which is let out as a summer residence to English 
travellers, or to any other foreigners that are willing to 
pay for it ; and the Bofanello, the late residence of Lu- 
cien Buonaparte for a number of years. At the distance 
of eight miles towards the Apennines is placed Tivoli, 
which, whatever may have been its grandeur in the time 
of Roman greatness, is now but an insignificant village. 
On the same direction, but nearer to Frascati, is the 
town called after the family of the Porzia, " Monte 
Porzio," so abominably filthy, that the inhabitants them- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 15 

selves, punning on the name, call it " monte dei porci" 
— pig mountain. On the other side of Frascati, and 
toward the sea, are Rocca di Papa, Rocca Prior e, Monte 
Competri — all insignificant villages, and distinguished 
for nothing but dirt and monasteries — one of which, very 
celebrated, is built on the top of a high mountain over- 
hanging the village of Rocca di Papa. It belongs to the 
frati della passione, or passion monks, so called from 
their wearing on their habits a picture representing the 
passion of Christ. Would it not be better, and more 
scriptural, for them to have Christ's passion imprinted 
on their hearts ? — But they think otherwise. 

Having presented the general's letter to the local 
superior of Frascati, I was admitted into the convent 
under the character of a postulante — a name given to 
those who, not being yet dressed in the habit, wish to 
be sure whether their vocation would continue after hav- 
ing observed more closely the manners and customs of 
the monks. I saw nothing during the time — about two 
months — I remained in this way, which could cause me 
to repent of my undertaking, or deter me from embracing 
the order. On the contrary, every thing seemed carried on 
according to the strictest rules of propriety. I was treated 
by the superior and the other monks with very great kind- 
ness and attention, approaching almost to affection ; the 
former frequently taking me as his umbra, or shade, to 
dine at some gentleman's house, of which he was the 
spiritual director; whilst the latter almost daily accom- 
panied me through the villas and palaces 01 the neigh- 
bourhood, to all of which they had a free and easy access, 
by reason of their monastic profession and the respect 
paid to it. In this way, two months passed over very 
agreeably, and, at the end of that time, my desire of 
joining the order was more ardent than before. 

The Italians in general are very obliging to strangers, 
especially to those strangers from whom they expect 
some advantage. The Italian monks are particularly so 
to those coming to unite themselves to their order, espe- 
cially if they be foreigners ; for it is thought, that it adds 
to the respectability of the order, and gives it distinction 



16 SIX YEARS IN THE 

in the eyes of the public, to have a great number of 
foreigners attached to it. The hope, also, of establishing 
convents, and propagating the Roman Catholic religion 
through their means in foreign parts, may be another 
motive for treating foreigners with more than usual kind- 
ness. It was a long time since the order counted any 
students from that heretical country, England, (as they 
generally call it,) among its numbers, and therefore it fell 
to my lot to be looked upon with more than usual interest. 
The superior once inquired of me, if my father and 
mother were Christians ? — a question which somewhat 
startled me, but which he afterward modified, by asking, 
if they were Roman Catholics ? I was not then aware 
that no Protestants, and more especially, no English 
Protestants, whom they honour so far as to call the 
"worst of heretics j 11 were esteemed by them Christians. 
I answered in the affirmative. He then inquired closely 
into the state of the Roman Catholic religion in Eng- 
land and Ireland, and of the number of monasteries in 
those countries ; wondering very much that so very few 
young men came from Ireland now-a-days to join his 
order; whereas, when he was a young man, and in the 
beginning of his ecclesiastical career — he was at this 
time about fifty-five — there were a great many young 
Irishmen his fellow students at Rome. He lamented, 
with appearance of great grief, the falling off of that once 
holy kingdom — the insula sanctorum — from the true 
faith, through, the apostasy (as he termed it) of Henry 
"VIII., and of Anna Boleyn. He then, turning to the 
other monks, who stood listening with open mouths, 
related the old threadbare story of the conversion of 
England by Austin, the monk, who was sent thither by 
the then holy father (the pope) Gregory ; not forgetting 
the equally old story of Venerable Bede's, about " non 
Angli, sed angeli, si tantum Christianifuissent" — " not 
English, but angels, if they were but Christians" — which 
must be familiar to every reader. 

The time for my taking the habit now drew nigh, and, 
it being rumoured through the town, that an Englishman 
was about to become a novice in the Capuchin order, the 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC 17 

church was crowded to excess on the day appointed. 
The evening before, I made a general confession of the 
sins of my whole life to the superior, and was directed to 
look to the Madonna and entreat her intercession, in 
order to have the absolution, pronounced by him, the 
unworthy minister of God, (his own words,) here on 
earth, ratified in heaven. The ceremonies usually prac- 
tised on giving the habit to a novice, having in them 
something that may appear strange to the generality of 
readers in this country, it will not be thought foreign «to 
the subject to describe them. 

The superior, having put on the vestments used for 
celebrating mass, comes to the altar, attended by a deacon, 
subdeacon, and acolothists, and addresses the congrega- 
tion, stating the occasion of the ceremony, and perhaps 
also giving (as he did in my case) a brief history of the 
postulant. He then endeavours to draw a moral from 
the history, and to hold up the subject of it, as one worthy 
of imitation. After this he begins the mass, and proceeds 
with it as far as the gospel, when the postulant is brought 
forward by the deacon, dressed in as gaudy attire as can 
be procured for the occasion. The postulant prostrates 
himself at the foot of the altar, and at the feet of the 
superior, who bids him, in Latin, to arise and proclaim 
aloud what he wanted from the church of God. The 
questions and answers, used on this occasion, and of 
which the novice is warned beforehand, are here subjoined 
in the original Latin, with a literal translation for the 
satisfaction of those who do not understand that lan- 
guage :— 

Ques. Quid petis ab ecclesia Dei ? 

Res. Habitum Sancti Francisci. 

Ques. Quare habitum Sancti Francisci petis ? 

Res. Ut animam salvem. 

Ques. Quis te excitavit mundum fugere, et teipsum 
Deo sub regula Sancti Francisci vovere ? 

Res. Nullus ab externo : sed tantam sponte, Spiritu 
Sancto cooperante, hujus mundi pericula vidi, et ut e% 
facilius fugerem, sub regula Sancti Francisci militare 
volo. 

3* 



18 



SIX YEARS IN THE 



Translation of the foregoing. 

Ques, What do you seek from the church of God ? 

Ans. The habit of St. Francis ! 

Ques. Why do you seek the habit of St. Francis ? 

Jlns. In order to save my soul. 

Ques. What has excited you to flee from the world, 
and to dedicate yourself to God under the rule of St. 
Francis ? 

Jlns. Nothing outwardly : but of my own accord, and 
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I have seen 
the dangers of the world, and in order to more easily 
escape them, I wish to be a soldier under the rule of St. 
Francis. 

The postulant is then stripped of his finery by the 
deacon and attendants, whilst the habit with which he is 
about to be clad, is placed before the superior on a silver 
salver, in order to be blessed by him and sprinkled with 
holy water. The blessing of the habit, which takes up 
five or six minutes, being finished, it is then handed 
over to the deacon, who puts it over the head and 
shoulders of the postulant, who kneels down to receive 
it, in token of greater devotion ; the superior in the 
mean time repeating the following : Sancti Francisci 
habitus ab omni diaboli impetu te custodiat ! May the 
habit of St. Francis guard you from all attacks of the 
cfevil ! Then a cord, of about half an inch in diameter, 
is produced, which, after having gone through the form 
of being blessed, is tied around the sides of the novice ; 
the superior repeating these words : Sancti Francisci 
cingula te ab omni libidine custodiat, et tefaciat castum 
anima et corpore. May the girdle or cord of St. Fran- 
cis guard you from lust, and render you chaste in soul 
and body. To all which prayers the attendants answer — 
Amen. The mass is then continued, till after the com- 
munion, when the novice is again brought forward by the 
deacon to receive the sacrament, which he does from the 
hands, or rather the fingers of the superior, who says, 
whilst in the act of putting the wafer into his mouth : 
Corpus Domini nostri, Jesu Christi, custodiat animam 
tuam in vitam eternam. Amen. May the body of our 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 19 

Lord Jesus Christ keep your soul for eternal life. Amen. 
The mass is, after this, finished, and the choir chant the 
psalm "Ecce quam bonum, et quam fucundum habitare, 
fratres, in unum" — Behold ! what a pleasing, and vir- 
tuous thing it is, brothers, to live together ; whilst the 
newly vested novice is receiving the kiss of peace from 
his future brethren, who say, whilst kissing him "Pax 
tibi, frater charissime''' — Peace be with you, dearest 
brother. The day of giving the habit to a novice is • 
observed by the monks as a day of feasting and rejoicing. 
A sumptuous dinner is prepared for the occasion, and the 
friends and benefactors of the convent are invited to par- 
take of it. The monks exercise their talents for poetry 
by composing some pieces to be recited in the refectory 
during dinner, in praise of a monastic life, or in praise of 
the novice. Thus the day passes over amidst mirth and 
feasting, whilst the new-made monk retires to his room, 
fully content with his condition, and enthusiastic in his 
admiration of the manner of life he had that day chosen. 
Happy for him, if he continue so, or if he repent not 
before the expiration of a few months ! 



CHAPTER IV. 

Rule of St. Francis — Reasons for being unable to obtain a sight of it 
before receiving the habit — Tradition attached to it — Francis' 
conversation with the miraculous crucifix — Pope Honorius — Ca- 
nonically elected popes — Infallibility — Lents — Wonderful change 
of flesh — meat into fish. 

Being now clad in the livery of St. Francis, ar book 
containing the rules and constitutions of the order was 
placed at my disposal. Such a book I often before 
wished to see, and even begged a loan of it, more than 
once, from the superior ; but my request, though not flatly 
refused, was always evaded. They never show — such 
is their policy — the rules of the order to the uninitiated, 
or to those not clad in their habit, fearing, I suppose, that 



20 SIX YEARS IN THE 

they might be injured in the public estimation, if the 
public became aware of the little harmony there is exist- 
ing between what they are, and what they ought to be, 
if they practised the rules laid down by their founder 
Francis. Be this as it may, I never could get a sight of 
the book containing these rules, until a few days after 
I had taken the habit, and when the monks well knew, 
in. the event of my not liking them, that I had gone 
too far to retract with honour ; though, indeed, I was 
still at liberty, and would be so for one year yet to come, 
until the day of my solemn profession, to retire from the 
order. 

There is a tradition attached to this book of rules, 
which will occasion a smile on the countenance of the 
reader. This is it : St. Francis, whilst fleeing from his 
father, who was very unwilling that his son should 
become a saint, retired for concealment to a mountain in 
the neighbourhood of Assisi, his native town. There he 
engaged in prayer and fasting for the space of forty days, 
say some, four only, say others — but it is all the same, 
there being as much truth in one as in the other. At the 
end of the forty, or four days, the crucifix before which 
he knelt, disengaging one of its hands from the wood to 
which it was nailed, suddenly became animated, and 
began to harangue Francis, and commanded him to insti- 
tute an order, for which a rule had been written in 
heaven. An angel then appeared, and, depositing a 
book in the hands of the crucifix, again vanished. The 
crucifix then stretched out and delivered the book to 
Francis, and immediately returned to its former position 
—an inanimate piece of wood. The foregoing story, 
carrying, as it does in itself, its own contradiction, is, 
nevertheless, often made the subject of a sermon in the 
Franciscan pulpits ; and so eagerly is the marvellous 
swallowed by a superstitious, uneducated peasantry, it 
has been the cause of bringing a great deal of wealth to 
the order, and of extolling it in the eyes of the public. It 
is frequently related in the confessional (where I for the 
first time heard it) by the monks to their penitents, and it 
is often believed by the narrators themselves, in the same 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 21 

way as habitual liars sometimes believe their own false- 
hoods. To such pious frauds as this do. men resort in order 
to aggrandize themselves and their order ; men, too, who 
are under a solemn vow to despise the world, and even 
its most harmless pleasures, and to give themselves up 
entirely to the salvation of the souls of others and of their 
own. 

The rule of which we are speaking was originally 
written in Italian, and then, after some years, turned into 
monkish Latin, so barbarous, that it evidently shows, 
whatever be Francis' claims for the title of a saint, he 
had very little — indeed, none at all — for that of a scholar. 
It is indeed a curious specimen of composition, whether 
regarded in a literary or in a moral light. I am sorry that 
I have not a copy of it by me to make some extracts from, 
having unfortunately lost the one I had. The extracts, 
which I am about to give, will be understood, therefore, 
as drawn entirely from memory. It begins with the bull 
of Honorius III., the then reigning pope, confirming the 
order of the Friars Minor, the name which through 
humility the Franciscans first assumed. Nor did this 
show of humility want its due portion of policy. Francis 
and his companions were well aware, that the success of 
the order would be much injured, if they excited in the 
beginning the jealousy of the Benedictines, Augustinians, 
Carmelites, &c, all long established and powerful orders. 
To give no open cause then for their jealousy, they very 
prudently accomplished, by a show of humility, what 
they were well aware never could be brought about by 
open defiance. They therefore called themselves Minor- 
friars, or Friar-minors. Little did the other orders then 
imagine, that the poor, sheepish-looking Francis had 
more real cunning than his outward department would 
warrant, and that he was about to institute an order, 
which, like bad weeds in a garden, would soon spread 
itself through all Europe. Little did they imagine, that 
his followers would soon dispossess them of their pulpits, 
and of their chairs of theology, and transfer in the end to 
themselves that veneration in which they were held by 
the people. But who can dive into futurity ? Not even 



22 SIX YEARS IN THE 

monks, however thaumaturgi, or miracle workers they 
may be ! 

We have seen, that the rule begins with the confirma- 
tion of the order by the then reigning pope, Honorius 
III. How that pope was brought to sanction the ravings 
of a man, who, by any person of sense, would be thought 
a madman, has connected with it another ridiculous story, 
which I shall take the liberty to mention here. It shows 
the pitiable stratagems, to which Francis and the pope 
too, as if an abettor, had recourse ; each, to consolidate 
his own authority — the one, the authority over his par- 
ticular followers, as their founder — the other, the author- 
ity, or at least, an argument in favour of that authority 
over the whole Christian world, as vicar of Christ. It 
seems, that in a second interview which Francis had 
with the animated crucifix, he was ordered to set out im- 
mediately for Rome, " and" — (Christ is blasphemously 
made the speaker,) " throwing thyself at the feet of my 
vicar, whom I have already prepared for thy coming, 
demand a confirmation of the rule which I have given 
thee." So saying, the crucifix remained silent. Francis, 
without the least hesitation, immediately set out for Rome, 
where arrived, he presented himself before the pontiff, 
who instantly embraced him, to the great surprise of the 
cardinals and his other attendants. The pope then re- 
lated the vision which he had seen the preceding night. 
"As I lay on my knees," said he, "after midnight, 
deeply engaged in prayer before the image of my Saviour, 
and supplicating him to inspire me with sufficient strength 
and prudence for the government of His holy church; 
behold, I saw in a vision, though broad awake, the 
church of St. John Lateran tottering, and this man — 
(pointing towards Francis on his knees) — dressed in the 
same habit in which he appears before us now, support- 
ing it with all his might, whilst in characters of fire were 
written over his head the words, « Vade, repara domum 
meain 9 — ' Go, and repair my house.' Francis then re- 
lated his conversation with the crucifix, and the command 
which he had received to proceed to Rome, and get his 
rule, which was written in heaven, confirmed on earth 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 23 

by the vicar of Jesus Christ. The confirmation, as may- 
well be supposed, met with no obstacle, and thus was a 
beginning given to the Franciscan order. The foregoing 
stories, ridiculous as they certainly are, and many others 
still more ridiculous and equally marvellous, are to be 
found in the life of St. Francis, written by one of his fol- 
lowers. Let the reader then give them that degree of 
credence which he may deem them worthy of. The 
subject of the latter one is made the escutcheon engraved 
on the vicar-general's seal, of which I have an impression 
in my possession — St. Francis, holding his shoulder 
against the falling church of St. John Lateran, and the 
words " vade, repara domum meam" written over his 
head. 

The rule then continues to lay down certain regulations 
to be observed under pain of mortal sin by all those pro- 
fessed in the order. The principal one, and that upon 
which all the rest are based, is a blind, servile obedience 
to the reigning pope and his successors canonically 
elected. Now, the clause " canonically elected" is rather 
vague in its signification, and probably Francis, simple 
as he may appear to his co-visionary, Pope Honorius, 
suspected that popes were not always elected according 
to the canons. He therefore very honestly gives his 
followers the liberty of choosing between contending 
popes, or of remaining neutral, not acknowledging any 
pope at all, till they see to whom fortune or superior 
interest, disguised under the name of the "Holy Ghost" 
would finally give the popedom. The scandalous con- 
tentions for the popedom — a manifest sign, that the Holy 
Spirit, though formally invoked, has very little influence 
in the election — are so well known to every reader, that 
it is needless to make particular mention of them here. 
The contentions for that dignity, when the holy see was 
transferred to Avignon, and when there existed at one 
and the same time three popes, excommunicating and. 
damning one another, may serve as an example of the 
infallibility of the infallible men who are elected to it. 
Three infallibles at one and the same time, and each 
condemning the infallible bulls and edicts promulgated 



24 . SIX YEARS IN THE 

by his infallible opponents ! Strange indeed, but such 
is popery. 

In another chapter, it lays down the number of lents 
to be observed in the year, and the manner in which 
these lents ought to be observed. The lents are three : 
one of seven weeks, observed, or at least commanded to 
be observed, by the whole Romish church ; though such 
a command, I am glad to see, is meeting with deserved 
neglect in most parts of Europe, except Ireland, and 
there also, among the educated classes of Roman Catho- 
lics — so true it is, that education is the bane of popery, 
and where the former prevails, the latter is put to flight, 
for it is as easy to unite fire and water as information and 
popery. 

The second of two months, from All Saints' day (1st 
of November) to Christmas, called by the monks, "la 
quaresima di merito," or the meritorious lent. The third 
of forty days, which begins some days after the Epiphany. 
This last is called " la quaresima benedetla" or the 
blessed lent, because Francis did not command it to be 
observed under pain of mortal sin, but yet left his blessing 
to those who observe it. Thus is fasting, though neither 
good nor bad in itself, rendered by this madman execra- 
ble, as being made the means of acquiring merit, and 
thereby salvation, whilst the blessed doctrine of obtain- 
ing it through the vicarious atonement and merits of 
Christ, is not once thought upon. The rigour with 
which lent should be observed, is perhaps intended to be 
pointed out by the following story, related in the life of 
St. Francis : 

One day in lent, Francis and his companion were 
travelling — on foot to be sure — in the province of Umbria, 
for the purpose of founding convents. They were fasting 
all that day, nor would they partake of any food, lest they 
should break through the holy fast, though frequently 
invited to do so by those upon whom they called in the 
way of business. Evening drawing nigh, they were 
obliged to take up their lodgings at the house of a vicious 
nobleman, who, however he may conceal it, was a secret 
enemy of Francis and his institute. At supper, there 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 25 

was nothing placed upon the table before the holy man 
and his companion but flesh-meat. The companion looked 
towards his master to see how he should act, and his hair 
stood on end with astonishment, when he positively saw 
him eating what was set before him. Knowing, how- 
ever, that the saint never acted without good reasons, he 
said nothing, but silently imitated the example given him. 
His host, who stood on the watch with some of his vicious 
companions, immediately burst out into laughter, and 
called in his neighbours to expose the hypocrite, as he 
called the holy man. Francis, not in the least disturbed, 
made the sign of the cross on the table, and in the twin- 
kling of an eye, the meat — capons, turkeys, and all — was 
turned into herrings ; and even the bones of what he 
had already eaten became bones of fish ! This was a 
miracle indeed ! But some monks have nothing else to 
do than inventing such trash. The story is made, how- 
ever, to serve its own purposes. It impresses the ne- 
cessity of abstaining from certain meats during a certain 
time in order to obtain favour with God, and strengthens 
that necessity by bringing Francis, whom all acknow- 
ledge a saint, forward as an example. This is nothing 
else but preaching the anti-scriptural doctrine of the dis- 
tinction of meats, so fondly adhered to by the church of 
Rome, and the bringing of Francis on the stage, is but 
showing an example of obedience to that doctrine. Again, 
the miracle of changing flesh-meat into herrings, is but 
proving, by a miracle, how acceptable such a doctrine is 
to God. 



CHAPTER V. 

Continuation of the rule — Monkish vow of poverty — How observed 
— Anecdote of a Carmelite — Masses — Obedience — Education of 
Novices — An ass turned into an ox — The tree of obedience. 

In another chapter of the book of rules, the friars are 
not only exhorted, but positively commanded " to have 
neither lands, nor houses? nor money , either in common 

4 



26 SIX YEARS IN THE 

or for individual use — but to depend entirely on the 
charity of the faithful for subsistence." They are com- 
manded to go "from door to door" (da uscio in uscio, 
are the express words of Francis,) " begging — not money, 
which they are prohibited from touching, but — provi- 
sions." This part of the rule is now entirely disregarded, 
and was, from the very beginning of the Franciscan insti- 
tute, and in the days of Francis himself — a pretty sample of 
obedience to the precepts of a rule, which he impiously 
gave out to be written by God himself. It is well known, 
that no people are so fond of money as monks, and none 
make so little use of it for the good of society in general. 
Absolute poverty, which they swear, yes, solemnly swear 
to observe, and live in, is openly and in the face of the 
public set at naught ; most convents having lands and 
rents attached to them for their support. Thus is the 
command at once broken through by them, considered as 
a community or body. The latter part — that of " begging 
from door to door — for provisions" — is indeed observed 
in part, and only in part, for they take money, if offered. 
It is continued chiefly more for the purpose of giving the 
world an idea of their poverty and humility, than through 
any absolute want they feel of such assistance. They 
have also a good income — paid always in money, mind — 
from the many masses daily celebrated in their churches, 
according to the intention of the highest bidder. The 
atonement of Christ set up for auction ! mark that, reader. 
These masses are mostly said in aid of the souls in purga- 
tory, which, whatever it be as a place of punishment to 
its inmates, is certainly the source of many enjoyments 
to its turnkeys, and has been justly called the pope's 
bank — a bank, indeed, which will never stop payment as 
long as the reign of superstition lasts. Masses are ofte^ 
said likewise, according to the intention of some swindler 
and assassin, who wishes to implore God's blessing on 
his nefarious undertakings. Some sincere, though mis- 
taken believers in their efficacy, also pay for masses to 
be said for some virtuous intention ; but these are rare 
cases, and if monks depended upon their frequent occur- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 27 

rence for support, they<would soon be obliged to shut 
up shop. 

Much as monks, considered as a community, transgress 
the vow of poverty, they transgress it still more indivi- 
dually. There are few, very few indeed, among them, 
who have not each his own private purse, which is often 
applied to uses that would not bear examination. Some 
over-scrupulous, and yet unwilling to forfeit the gratifica- 
tions which money can procure, cover their hands with 
two or three pairs of gloves, whilst using it, in order to 
evade the law, which simply says, "/retires pecuniam 
non attingant" — let friars not touch money. Thus they 
endeavour to stifle the voice of conscience by never 
touching it with their naked fingers, and think, that they 
have satisfied the law, if they blindfold the d — 1 in the 
dark. This way of getting over a difficulty, or of inter- 
preting a command in one's own favour, is similar to 
that of the Carmelite's, who, not being allowed by the 
rules of his order to eat meat within the convent, though 
he may without, thrust his head and part of his body out 
of the window, and in that position devoured a whole 
fowl. There are others, who go in a more open way to 
work ; those who apply to the pope for a brief by which 
they may be empowered to keep money, on payment of 
a certain sum to His Holiness - ; but the greater part never 
trouble their heads about either pope or bishop's leave, 
and keep as much money as they can come at. Indeed, 
a monk's conscience becomes larger and larger every day, 
till at last, being entirely worn out, it bursts, and stops at 
nothing. 

I shall mention the contents of one more chapter of this 
rule, and make a few remarks thereon, and then be done 
with it. Blind, servile obedience to the local and gene- 
ral superiors of the order, is insisted upon and command- 
ed to be strictly observed by the rule of St. Francis. 
This is made an essential point in the character of a good 
monk, and on this, according to monkish moralists, all 
other virtues depend. Obedience, indeed, considered in 
relation to God, or to parents, or to those who have any 
lawful power to command it from us, is certainly a virtue ; 



28 SIX TEARS IN THE 

but when it extends itself to the performance of things, 
which are little in unison with gospel morality, it must 
certainly, whatever monkish moralists say to the contrary, 
lose in a great measure its good effects. Thus the s\fi 
perior of a monastery will command one of his subjects 
to preach a funeral sermon over the corpse of one, whose 
whole life was one continued round of vice and immoral- 
ity. The convent will gain something by it, and the 
subject of course must obey his superior. He then in 
that very pulpit designed for spreading the truths of the 
gospel — though a monastic pulpit is seldom used for that 
purpose — must praise the virtues and piety of the de- 
ceased, and with an unblushing disregard for truth, must 
attribute to him some noble actions, of which he was 
never guilty ; having been, on the contrary, the scandal 
and rock of offence to the whole neighbourhood. How 
then will the preacher excuse himself to his own con- 
science for this unworthy prostitution of his oratory? 
Why, by simply thinking that his vow of obedience com- 
pelled him to it, and instead of fearing God's indignation, 
he places it among the bundle of his merits, to be presented 
at his death as a passport to heaven ; for it is an axiom 
with them, that the more difficult the command, the 
greater is the merit of obeying it. Again, if a subject be 
commanded by his superior to attend at the last moments 
of a dying rich man — and this is an every-day occur- 
rence — and to endeavour to prevail upon him, whilst in 
that feeble state of mind and body, to bequeath his wealth, 
or the greater portion of it, to the monastery for the good 
of his soul ; the subject dare not disobey, though he is 
well aware that the favourable issue of Jp.is commission 
will tend to the injury of the children and other near 
relatives of the dying man. He only works in his voca- 
tion, leaving to those whom he obeys to reconcile the act 
to the strict rules of equity and justice ; and, perhaps, he 
excuses himself in the words of Falstaff — " It is my 
vocation, it is no sin for a man to work at his vocation." 
This blind obedience to the will of the superiors is 
more than any thing else dwelt upon in the education of 
novices. From the moment they take the habit, they 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 29 

are led by degrees to lose the exercise of their free-will, 
and of the innate power of judging between fas and ne- 
fas — right and wrong. They are taught to consider an 
action essentially bad in itself as meritorious, when sanc- 
tioned by the command of the superior. Their instruct- 
ers, however, take good care not to wound all at once 
their natural sense of propriety, but conduct them insen- 
sibly, and without their perceiving it, to make a sacrifice 
of their judgment. They at first command only trifling 
things, and such as are of no moment ; things indifferent 
in themselves, and neither bad nor good. Thus, one is 
commanded to plant some cabbages in the garden with 
the roots upwards ; another, to stick in the ground a 
piece of dry, rotten wood, and water it so many times a 
day, as if it were a living plant — a duty I performed 
myself for nearly one fortnight ; another is ordered to 
pronounce so many Latin words contrary to the received 
and established rules of prosody, as legere for legere, 
dominus for dominus, epistola for epistola, and so on. 
The novices are in this way brought by degrees to accus- 
tom themselves to be guided by others, and to perform 
the will of their superior in every thing, till at last they 
become as pieces of wax in the hands of a saint maker, 
who is at liberty to make of it a Gesii Bambino, a Ma- 
donna, or a de — il, as it may best answer his purpose. 
Nor are there wanting legends and tales, to more forcibly 
impress on the mind the merit of obedience. Out of 
thousands I will select one or two. 

St. Francis, walking one day in company with one of 
his novices, saw, on the side of the road, an ass feeding. 
"Is not that a fine ox," said he to his companion ; " and 
how ought we to be thankful to God for his goodness in 
bestowing on us such auxiliaries to help us on in our 
labours." The novice looked towards the hedge, and 
saw — not an ox, but — an ass, endeavouring to satisfy 
his appetite on a meal of thistles. Thinking that the 
saint, in his simplicity, really mistook an ass for an ox, 
whilst the holy patriarch was only trying his obedience, 
he took the liberty to inform him of his mistake. The 
saint, however, chided him for his pains, and telling him 

4* 



30 SIX YEARS IN THE 

to look again, lo ! the ass was in an instant transformed 
into a beautiful and strong ox. The novice now threw 
himself at the saint's feet, humbly imploring his forgive- 
ness, for having dared to think or see any thing, but in 
the way that he, his superior, thought or saw it : the 
man of God, after reading him a lecture on submitting 
even his senses to the authority of his superiors, raised 
him up, and took him again into favour, on his promising 
never to believe his own eyes again. 

There is another legend, by which the merit of blind 
obedience is impressed upon the minds of novices, and 
which, having some likeness to the task I myself had to 
perform — that of watering a dry stick thrust into the 
ground — may not be found uninteresting. It is the fol- 
lowing : — 

In the garden of the convent of Capuchins at Allatri — 
a town of the papal states situated in the Campagna di 
Roma — there is a fine fig tree, which every year produces 
abundance of delicious fruit. The tradition attached to 
this tree forms the subject of the legend. A young man, 
of most libertine principles, who had passed through 
every stage of vice which is practised in a sinful world, 
being obliged to flee from Rome, on account of having 
wounded in a duel one of the companions of his debauch- 
ery, took refuge in the convent, till the powerful interest 
of his relations — he being of a noble family — could pro- 
cure his pardon. In the mean time he was a diligent 
observer of the piety and sanctity of the monks, (so says 
the annalist — a monk, to be sure,) and at last came to the 
resolution of renouncing the world altogether, and of 
serving God under the rule of St. Francis. With this 
intention, he sought the superior, and, with tears in his 
eyes, begged to be received as a novice. The superior, 
in order to try his vocation, angrily repulsed him, and 
said, that such an infamous wretch as he, was not worthy 
to be classed among the followers of the holy patriarch. 
But this refusal served only to excite his desire the more, 
and he again and again renewed his petition. The su- 
perior, seeing his constancy, at length consented ; fear- 
ing, that if he resisted any longer, he would be acting 



MONASTERIES OF ' ITALY, ETC. 31 

against the divine impulse that so strongly excited the 
young man to forsake the world and its vanities. He 
was received as a novice. His master-novice, in order 
to exercise him in obedience, commanded him to take 
from the fire a half-burnt piece of wood, and plant it in 
the garden, at a quarter of a mile's distance from the 
well, whence he was to draw water to water it three 
times every day. It happened, that the piece of wood 
was a part of a fig tree, and — remark the fruits of obedi- 
ence — the half-burnt stick took root, and grew into the 
beautiful tree which is to be seen to this day in the gar- 
den of the Allatri convent. It is now called by the 
monks, and other inhabitants of the town, " Valbore della 
ubbedienza" or the tree of obedience. Such ridiculous 
stories as these are made the means of rendering the un- 
fortunate victims of monkery the willing agents for 
upholding the doctrines of the Romish church, and of 
placing them as tools in the hands of the more cunning, 
for executing their own private views, and for leading 
astray, from, the road to salvation, the minds of a super- 
stitious peasantry. 



CHAPTER VI. 

What excited Francis to found his order — Benedictines — Santoni— 
State of the religious orders in the thirteenth century — State of 
the people — Francis' ambition. 

It will not be thought foreign to the present subject to 
make a few remarks on the reasons which first excited 
Francis to institute his order. They were chiefly these : 
the indolent, lazy, inactive life of the other monkish or- 
ders — the superstition of the age in which he lived, (the 
beginning of the thirteenth century,) and which he well 
knew would receive with applause any appeal to its 
notions of religion — and the fire of ambition burning in 
his bosom, and strongly driving him on to distinguish 
himself by becoming founder of a monastic order. On 



32 SIX TEARS IN THE 

looking into the state of the monastic orders of Francis' 
days, we cannot help observing, that the greater part of 
them fell away from their primitive institute. The Bene- 
dictines, founded many centuries before by Benedict — 
another fanatic — were fast falling into the disrepute they 
so justly merited, for their slothful, indolent, and vicious 
lives. Benedict's intention was, that his followers should 
lead an ascetic life, wholly secluded from the world, and 
that their monasteries should be built far from any popu- 
lous city. This regulation, which was doubtless intended 
by their founder as a preventive against secular ambition, 
very soon became inadequate to the accomplishment of 
that purpose. By degrees, riches flowed into them, and 
their primitive frugality was then soon at an end. They 
became masters of the land for miles in the neighbour- 
hood of their monasteries, and all the peasantry thereon 
became slaves to their clerical masters, who exercised 
the power of life and death over them. The monasteries 
soon became fortified castles ; it being no unusual sight 
to see mitred abbots, with the crozier in one hand and 
the sword in the other, leading on their vassals against 
some secular lord, from whom they had received, or 
imagined to have received, some insult. These petty 
brawls were the only disturbances which aroused them 
from their beloved indolence ; for, at other times, their 
lives were chiefly spent in feasting— not fasting ; and in 
mumbling over some Latin prayers, which the greater 
part of them did not understand. Many people are under 
the impression that the world is much indebted to the 
Benedictines for the care they took in preserving and 
transcribing many valuable books, which, were it not for 
them, would scarcely have come down to us. That 
some books were preserved in their monasteries, espe- 
cially in those belonging to the congregation of St. Maure, 
cannot be denied ; but did they endeavour to instruct the 
people in general to use such books ? Quite the con- 
trary has been the case. It was their interest to keep 
the people in ignorance, in order to maintain their own 
influence over them ; and as he was thought a learned 
man in those days who could read and write, so the 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 33 

monks were looked upon as superior beings, who were 
masters of these extraordinary qualifications. The bulls 
issued by the reigning popes of that period speak volumes 
as to the ignorant state of the people in general, and 
more particularly of the ignorant state of the vassals of 
the church. These bulls loudly complain, that the pea- 
santry living on the estates of most abbeys, were igno- 
rant of the first rudiments of Christianity. The monks, 
indeed, took very little trouble to teach them any thing 
at all; but when they did, it consisted in repeating Pater- 
nosters and Ave Marias, and some other Latin prayers to 
the Virgin and saints. When they preached, the subject 
was not the way of salvation, as pointed out in the re- 
vealed word, but some miracle or life of a saint chosen 
from their order. Thus, the world, all things considered, 
does not lie under such obligations to the Benedictines 
as their advocates would lead us to believe ; for truly, 
had they never existed, or had they taken more pains to 
instruct the people, the reign of barbarism and Vandalic 
ignorance would not so long have afflicted the human 
race. 

The other orders, including the Augustinians, Carmel- 
ites, and their different ramifications, were on a par, both 
in utility and morality, with the Benedictines. The peo- 
ple, though uneducated, could, however, judge of the evil 
effects naturally flowing from the monkish system, and 
were ripe for shaking off the galling yoke of their cle- 
rical rulers, as soon as they could find a favourable oppor- 
tunity. The veneration in which monks were held began 
to sensibly decrease, and the people by degrees gave less 
credence to their stories of prodigies and holiness, which 
were so contradictory to the known tenor of their lives. 
They began to look around for some one, that, making 
himself one of themselves, would both flatter their pas- 
sion for the marvellous, and free them from the proud 
domination of mitred abbots. Every fool, who had not 
the wit or the means of living in the society of his neigh- 
bours, found immediate support by wandering about the 
country in the assumed character of a santone, or huge 
saint. His poverty, and the filthiness of his rags, were 



34 SIX YEARS IN THE 

considered, by a superstitious peasantry, as evident signs 
of superior holiness, and the miracles and visions which 
he pretended to have seen, were listened to with open 
mouths. The idea, that their lordly masters, the Bene- 
dictines and others, could alone be acceptable to God, or 
could alone perform miracles, began to wear away fast, 
and there was wanting only a santone more cunning than 
the rest to fix their veneration on himself alone, and on 
his followers, and to withdraw it altogether from their 
sanctified tyrants. Such a one was presented to them in 
the person of Francis. 

Francis long since was aware of the decline of Bene- 
dictine influence, and not having the talents to distinguish 
himself in any secular profession, and, like the man that 
burned he temple of Diana at Ephesus, being ambitious 
to immortalize his name — no matter how — thought that 
a favourable opportunity now presented itself of arriving 
at that object. He therefore dressed himself in tattered 
rags, and, barefooted, wandered about the country, feign- 
ing a most sanctified deportment, and relating the wonders 
and visions with which he was favoured. He silently 
and patiently suffered the insults, and even the blows of 
those who were sent by the lordly Benedictines to drive 
him from the neighbourhood of their monasteries ; for, 
conscious of their declining influence over the minds of 
the people, they rightly judged that he, and other vaga- 
bond saints of his stamp, were the cause of it, by placing 
their meekness, poverty, and show of sanctity, in the 
face of their own pride, riches, and want of common 
decency. His patience and .assumed meekness under 
insults, served to increase his popularity, and to attract 
the more general notice of the people. He found him- 
self surrounded in a short time by many followers ; some 
of his own class being excited to unite themselves to him, 
as the means of more easily acquiring the public esteem, 
and to satisfy their darling passion of being thought 
saints ; whilst others, with more pure and disinterested 
motives, and firmly believing in the reality of his affected 
sanctity, took him as their guide, and hoped, through his 
intercession and prayers, to obtain favour with God O, 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 35 

human blindness ! And was there no one to preach the 
blessed and life-giving doctrine of justification, through 
the vicarious atonement of a Saviour, to these souls pant- 
ing after immortality ? Was there no one to point out to 
them the Lamb of God, " which taketh away the sin of 
the world?" Their error was more of the judgment 
than of the heart, and had Francis and his co-impostors 
been as desirous of exalting the kingdom of Christ, as 
they were of exalting themselves, to these souls asking 
the "way to be saved," his answer would not be — " be- 
lieve in me, unite yourselves to me, and under my pro- 
tecting wings ye may be sure of salvation :" but it would 
be — " believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall be 
saved." But this answer would debase himself, and 
make him lose the fruits of his imposture — the acquiring 
a name for himself, and the honour of being founder of a 
monastic order. 

Francis, soon after he had acquired a sufficient number 
of followers, and had excited in the minds of the people 
an extravagant notion of his superior holiness, retired 
into the mountains of his native town, Assisi, perhaps 
really fleeing from his father, who had sense enough to 
wish that his son might distinguish himself in some other 
way ; or perhaps to give the appearance of reality to the 
story he had already fabricated about his rule ; which has 
been already related. It is said by his monkish biogra- 
phers, that his father had him forcibly brought back to 
his house at Assisi, and confined him for a considerable 
time to one of the rooms, secured with a lock and key, 
in order to turn him away from his intention of becoming 
a saint ; but finding this and many like attempts on his 
virtue (as they call his obstinacy) of no avail, he, at last, 
stripped him naked and turned him into the streets. Be 
that as it may, it is certain that he obtained the confirma- 
tion of his rule from Pope Honorius soon after the in- 
vention of the story about the crucifix, and in less than 
two years after its confirmation, he saw himself arrived 
at the goal of his wishes, in being the founder and head 
of a flourishing order. In some of his pictures, which 
may be frequently seen in the Franciscan churches, he is 



36 SIX YEARS IN THE 

represented in a state of nudity, running away from his 
father, and fleeing for protection under the folds of the 
pope's garments, with the inscription, " Pater me abjecit, 
Dens autern me accepit." (My father has cast me off, 
but God has taken me in.) This probably alludes to the 
circumstance related by his biographers, of his father's 
having turned him away as incorrigible and disobedient. 
A breach of the third commandment is thus held up as 
worthy of imitation, and made one of the virtues of a 
canonized saint ! Popery, popery, when wilt thou learn 
to blush? 



CHAPTER VII. 

Novitiate — Education of Novices — Master-novice — His qualifica- 
tions — Popish prayers — Canonization and Beatification — Canoni- 
cal hours. 

The first year of a monkish life is called the year of no- 
vitiate. During this year, the novices, or embryo-monks, 
live apart from those who are already professed. Their 
rooms are situated in the most retired part of the con- 
vent, nor are they allowed to have intercourse with any 
one, or even to speak to each other, without leave from 
the master-novice. He is always at their side, and they 
must be governed entirely by his directions, which are 
always given in a tone of command. He is for the most 
part a learned man, though it not unfrequently happens, 
that he is chosen to that office more on account of his 
cunning than his learning : indeed, the chief qualifica- 
tions looked for in a master-novice are, a calm, even 
temper ; a knowledge of the human heart ; an utter 
devotion to the good and aggrandizement of the order ; 
and a power of deep dissimulation. The two latter 
qualifications are considered as most essential ; the first, 
in order to be able to impress on the minds of the novices 
the same love and devotion for the good of the order, 
which stimulate himself: the last, in order to closely 
observe, and at the same time, appear as if not observing, 
the actions and even the thoughts of those committed to 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 37 

his guidance. His first care is to dive into the novice's 
natural disposition, by leaving him to himself, and 
almost master of his own actions, for the first two or three 
months. Having found out his failings, which perhaps, 
in the opinion of a more upright judge, would be con- 
sidered as leaning to virtue's side, he then prepares for 
the remedy. 

Nothing is so much dwelt upon in the education of 
novices, as the article of prompt and passive obedience. 
This is held up to their view as the greatest of all possi- 
ble virtues, and the one upon which all other virtues are' 
founded. To accustom the mind to be guided in every 
thing by the command of the superior, the master-novice 
is sure to command things, which, from his own obser- 
vation, he thinks might be in direct variance with the 
natural or acquired disposition of the novice. If he ob- 
serve one of his pupils passionately fond of reading and 
study, he will command him to abstain from such indul- 
gence for a certain time, and then reads him a lecture on 
the vanity of all human acquirements. Should he observe 
another rather tired of the stories contained in the " an- 
nals of the order,"* it is his duty to command him to 
read so many pages of these annals every day, and render 
an account of what he had read, with his reflections 
thereon, at some stated time, to himself. By degrees, 
the mind of the novice, trainedup in this way, accustoms 
itself to depend entirely upon the will of others, and 
almost forgets that it has in itself an innate power of 
volition. When arrived at this point, the master's work 
is more than half done. He then, by slight insinuations 
at first, and afterwards more openly, establishes the mon- 
strous doctrine "that the good of the order ought to be 
consulted in every thing." He proves by arguments the 
most convincing to those minds already prepared for 
them, that a " thing essentially bad in itself becomes 

* The book, or rather books, for there are seven huge folio volumes of 
it, used for instructing the novices in monkery, called " gli annali del 
serafico ordine" — the annals of the seraphic order. These annals 
rival the breviary itself in lying, and seem to have been written by 
the inspiration of the father of lies himself. 

5 



38 SIX YEARS IN THE 

good, when it is performed for the advancement of the 
order, or by the command of the superior, who ought 
to be the best judge of what is lawful, and what un- 
lawful to be done by the subject." He then sums up, 
and concludes his anti-Christian theories with one short 
rule, "that by obeying his superior in every thing, a 
monk may be sure of everlasting life, and can never com- 
mit a sin, even whilst in the performance of the basest 
action, if he performs it by command of his superior." 

It is also the duty of the master-novice to teach the 
novices the ceremonies and prayers of the church, and 
the manner of reciting the divine office in choir. The 
ceremonies consist in the different genuflections to be 
made at the time of mass ; the number of- times the 
ground ought to be kissed ; and the posture of body to 
be observed on different occasions. In the presence of 
strangers, they are taught to put on a holy mortified 
countenance, to keep their eyes fixed on the ground, and 
their arms crossed on their breast. They are taught to 
answer modestly and in a few words to any question 
that might be put to them, and to evade all questions re- 
lative to the internal policy of the order. Thus should 
an acquaintance ask a monk, " whether it be likely that 
Padre N — will be made provincial at the ensuing chap- 
ter," the monk is sure not to understand the question at 
first, and to endeavour to evade it. When pressed, how- 
ever, for a direct answer, he either pleads ignorance on 
the subject, pr simply says, " that the election of supe- 
riors rests in the hands of God, and that, for his part, he 
is willing to obey whomsoever it may please the Divine 
Will to place over him." By this show of humility he 
leaves the inquirer as wise as before, and in admiration 
of his deep resignation to the will of God. The novices 
are early exercised in this manner of answering. Their 
master will, for instance, ask one of them, "If it be 
raining, or fine weather?" The simple, direct answer 
would be, " Yes ; or no ;" but the novice is taught to 
answer, " It seems to me," or, " If I be not mistaken; it 
is fine weather," or, "it is raining." 

The prayers which they are taught chiefly consist 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 39 

in repeating the rosary of the Virgin Mary ; or in getting 
by heart some hymn, composed in honour of some other 
Saint or Saintess, and accustomed to be sung before his 
or her image, in order to implore its intercession. The 
rosary is a species of superstitious worship — for prayer 
it can scarcely be called — in which one " Pater-noster" 
is offered to God for every ten " Ave Marias" offered to 
the Virgin Mary. It is made up of ten parts, in each of 
which the Lord's Prayer is repeated once, and the Hail 
Mary ten times, so that one hundred prayers are re- 
peated in honour of the Virgin, and ten only in honour 
of God. It concludes with the following blasphemous 
address to the Virgin ; which I here subjoin for the satis- 
faction of those, who are not acquainted with the extent 
of popish irreligion, and who perhaps will think it im- 
possible, that any church calling itself Christian, could 
sanction by its authority so barefaced an insult to the 
great Mediator between God and man. It may tend also 
to make those who are favoured with the blessings of 
gospel liberty, to duly appreciate that inestimable trea- 
sure, and exert themselves in behalf of their less fortunate 
fellow creatures, who live under the yoke of a wily 
priesthood, and who are kept from depending upon the 
all-sufficient atonement of Jesus by having their minds 
turned away from Him, the Lord and Giver of life, to 
the worship and adoration of his creatures. 

Salve, Regina, mater misericordise, vita, dulcedo, et 
spes nostra, Salve. Ad te clamanus, exules filii Hevse, 
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lachryma- 
rum valle, Eja, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos miseri- 
cordes oculos ad nos converte, et Jesum benedictum 
fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende, O 
clemens, O pia, O dulcis virgo Maria.* (Hail, holy 

* The translation is added for the benefit of such as do not under- 
stand Latin, and who are not, like the greater part of Romanists, 
loud in praising or condemning what they do not understand. In- 
deed, the above prayer is daily repeated by millions of devotees be- 
fore the image of the Virgin, who do not understand a syllable of 
the meaning of it. If they could understand it, it may be charitably 
hoped, that they would repeat it less frequently. 









40 SIX TEARS IN THE 

Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and 
our hope: to thee do we cry, poor banished sons of 
Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, whilst mourning 
and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, O most 
gracious advocate, thy eyes of mercy towards us, and 
show us, after this our banishment, Jesus, the blessed 
fruit of thy womb, O clement, O pious, sweet Virgin 
Mary.) 

There is also another Latin prayer in verse, and in 
the form of a hymn, which is frequently sung in honour 
of the popish goddess, and which it may not be thought 
needless to mention here, as it forms one of the parrot- 
prayers, which the young monk is obliged to commit to 
memory. It begins with an invocation to the Virgin, 
which would be very appropriate if addressed to Venus, 
whom the poets feign to have been born of the foam of 
the sea ; but when applied to the meek and chaste Mary, 
it is certainly very much out of place. The following 
is a part of it : — 

Ave maris stella, 
Dei mater alma, 
Atque semper virgo, 
Felix cceli porta. 
Monstra te esse matrem 
Sumens per te preces, 
Qui pro nobis natus 
Tulit esse tuus. 
Virgo Singularis 
Inter omnes mitis ; 
Nos culpis solutos 
Mites fac, et castos. 

The Virgin Mary is here called the "Star of the sea, 
and the mother of God ;" and her intercession is humbly 
implored, that, making use of the authority of a mother, 
she may compel her son to receive the prayers of the 
petitioners. It seems strange, how they can call her the 
Star of the sea, who, as far as we know, at least, never 
went to sea in her life. This epithet was given to 
Venus by some of the ancient Pagans ; and who knows 
that it was not in imitation of them that the same is 
given by Papists to the Virgin ? As if mistress of every 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 41 

favour, she is also entreated to make them chaste and 
mild, like herself, after having first freed them from 
their sins. 

The prayers to the other saints, in which the novices 
are instructed, are of the same stamp with the foregoing; 
all derogating from the honour due to God alone, and 
bestowing it upon his creatures ; some of which, though 
honoured as saints in this world, are now, perhaps, 
howling in the regions of the damned. The novices are 
directed to have particular devotion for the saints of their 
own order, especially for St. Francis, the founder of it ; 
St. Anthony of Padua, St. Crispin of Viterbo, and others 
of this class, whose merits raised them to the honour of 
beatification or canonization.* The pictures of them 
are hung up in the dormitories and corridors of the 
convent ; and each monk, whether professed or not, is 
expected, whilst passing before them, to bow down and 
kiss their frames or canvass. 

The novices are also taught, by their master, the man- 
ner of reciting the divine office. Officium divinum, or 
the canonical hours, is a certain portion of the Psalms of 
David ; some hymns in honour of the saints, the lives 
of the saints themselves, and some detached portions of 
the Old and New Testaments, commanded to be recited, 
under pain of mortal sin, at certain stated hours of the 
day, by every Romish ecclesiastic, whether secular or 
regular, and by every professed monk. These hours are 
contained, arranged according to the day of the month, 

* There is a wide difference between the meaning of these words, 
" beatification and canonization .•" the former simply means, that the 
deceased has been declared " happy," by the mouth of infallibility, 
the pope ; the latter refers to the ceremony of his making his public 
entry into paradise. He is then able to assist, in an efficacious way, 
those who implore his intercession and protection. Whilst simply 
beatified, his power was not so great. Canonization generally takes 
place fifty years after beatification ; fifty years being the time allowed 
the beatified man or woman to become acquainted with Heaven, and 
to make friends there, by whose favour and interest he or she may be 
able to befriend their worshippers. It probably takes its rise from 
the apotheosis, or deification, of the ancient Romans, and does not 
yield a whit to it in absurdity. 

5* 






42 SIX YEARS IN THE 

(a saint's name being affixed to every day,) and fitted up 
for the use of the whole year, in the book called " Bre- 
viarium"* or the breviary. They are seven in number, 
having obtained that division on account of the ancient 
custom of reciting them at seven distinct hours of the 
day ; though now-a-days they are generally got over at 
one sitting by secular priests, and at two or three at 
farthest by regulars, who recite them together in choir. 
If recited at once, and without interruption, they would 
take up about one hour every day, though many mumble 
them over in less than that time, especially those who 
consider them a burdensome duty, the sooner got rid of 
the better. Very many recite them through habit, with- 
out reflecting upon, or even understanding the meaning 
of the words ; and not few priests may be found who 
never go to the trouble of reciting them at all, although, 
according to moralists, they commit a mortal sin for 
every time they neglect them. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Breviary — Its unwilling agency in leading many priests to the 
truth — Story of a Tyrolese monk — His conversion — The cause of 
it — Remarks upon it by a professor of theology — How a popish 
priest may commit seven mortal sins per diem. 

The ridiculous stories to be found in the breviary are 
evident proofs of the falling off of that church, (which 
ordains it to be used as a prayer-book by her clergy,) 
from the purity and simplicity of primitive Christianity. 
The metamorphoses of Ovid, or the tales of the fairies, 
are not half so marvellous as some actions and miracles 

* Breviarium is a Latin word, seldom used by classical writers 
It means a summary. The priests' prayer-book is called by this 
name, either because it is a summary of all Christian duties, (God 
help us !) or because it has been established by the decrees of popes 
breve meaning, in monkish Latin, a decree in favour, or against, a 
certain individual or individuals, wherein it differs from " bulla" 
which is an edict directed to the whole Christian world. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 43 

of saints related in it. My wonder is, that the church 
of Rome, so political and cunning in her general con- 
duct, should show so great a want of common prudence, 
by commanding her ministers to give credence to the 
monstrous absurdities which the breviary contains. 
We«e it designed for the laity, there would be little cause 
for wonder, as it would be only in accordance with the 
other doctrines, fabricated at the expense of truth and 
genuine Christianity, which are daily held up to their 
belief; but that the agents, makers themselves of a cor- 
rupt system, should be required to believe in what they 
know to be completely false, is pushing their obedience 
a little too far. The breviary, however strange as it 
may appear, has been the unwilling means of drawing 
many souls to the life-giving truth, as it is in Jesus. 
Many priests who are ordained, firmly believing in the 
truth of the Romish church, soon become disgusted with 
the fables contained in this, the priest's prayer-book ; 
and having found comfort in the detached and mutilated 
scraps of Scripture, scattered here and there through it, 
they are excited to examine the whole Bible more dili- 
gently, whence they are sure to derive a consolation 
which the breviary never can bestow. A striking in- 
stance of this fell under my own observation a few years 
before, through God's mercy, I shook off the yoke of 
popish bondage. As it seems connected with my pre- 
sent subject, it will not be amiss to relate it. 

A young Tyrolese studied at the same convent with 
me at Rome. He was distinguished for talents supe- 
rior to those of many of his fellow students, and was 
*very early marked out by the superiors of the order, as 
one likely to be of use in founding convents, and propa- 
gating the Romish tenets in his own country. A close 
friendship existed between him and me ; and, having 
opportunities of observing him, which he was cautious 
in affording to any one else, on going into his room, I 
often found him comparing Deodati's Italian translation 
of the Scriptures with the Latin Vulgate. How he came 
by the former I do not now recollect, or perhaps he never 
told me. He knew very well that Deodati's Bible was 



44 SIX YEARS IN THE 

prohibited, and therefore he kept it under a tile, which he 
could raise up and lay down in the pavement of his room.* 
He had no fear that I would betray him, for he well knew 
that I was at that time a Christian only in outward appear- 
ance, and a secret scoffer of Christianity in general, and 
at monkish Christianity in particular. I made no secret 
of my opinions to him, believing- him to be of the same 
mind. I observed, however, that he was growing every 
day more serious, and less inclined to join me in my 
remarks on the Christian religion, though he had the 
same indifference as formerly for the rites and ceremo- 
nies in which his station obliged him to join. The 
cause of this change I could not then guess ; but it after- 
wards became manifest, when, after being ordained 
priest, he was sent by the Propaganda Fidet a missionary 
to Rhezia. He had not been absent more than four 
months, when he wrote to the general of the Capuchins, 
requesting that he should consider him no longer as one 
of his subjects, and acquainting him with his having em- 
braced, through conviction, the reformed religion in one of 
the Protestant cantons of Switzerland. He said that the 
stories of the breviary first led him to doubt of the truth of 
popery, and by degrees precipitated him into infidelity; 

i 
* Those who have been in either France or Italy, can easily con- 
ceive how a tile could be raised up from the pavement of a room ; 
but, for the information of such as have not, it may be necessary to 
add, that rooms are very seldom boarded in these countries, bricks 
and tiles being used for flooring instead, even in the highest stories 
of houses. 

•j- A college at Rome, expressly designed for the education of mis- 
sionaries. There are in it students from almost every part of the 
known world, prepared, vi et armis, if preaching will not do, to 
disseminate the soul-destroying doctrines of popery through what- 
ever part of the world they may be sent to. So devoted are they to 
the pope, that they are called, through contempt by tfce other eccle- 
siastics, "guastatori deWarmata del papa," (the pioneers of the 
pope's army.) A high dignitary of the Romish church, in this city, 
(Philadelphia,) is a sapling raised in this fruitful hot-bed of false 
religion. I wish Protestants would imitate Rome in establishing 
such another institution, to counteract the evil effects naturally to be 
expected from having popery instead of Christianity preached to 
souls panting after the waters of life. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 45 

that he found comfort in reading some portions of the 
Scriptures, scattered through it ; and that from reading a 
part, he was induced to read the whole, which ended in 
his again embracing Christianity under a purer form than 
that of the church of Rome. His change, and the 
reasons for it, I learned from the professor of theology, 
to whom it was communicated by the general, that he 
might warn his other students to beware of the fatal 
effects of doubting of the truth of the infallible church 
of Rome. The professor, in endeavouring to show the 
futility of the reasons which induced him to embrace the 
reformed church, was obliged to declare first, what these 
reasons were ; and, after a long comment upon them, he 
wound up his arguments by attributing the change to the 
temptation of the . d — 1, who will certainly possess him 
hereafter, added he charitably enough, if he continue a 
heretic. 

It is not to be supposed, that all priests, who are led 
into infidelity by the fables of the breviary, are so fortu- 
nate as to search the Scriptures for light, like my Tyro- 
lese friend. The greater part of them, after having dis- 
covered the fallibility and monstrous absurdities of the 
church, which claims for herself alone the title of 
" infallible" judge of all other churches by the same 
standard, and imagine that all and every doctrine of 
Christianity are so many cunningly devised fables, invent- 
ed by a certain class of men to answer their own private 
ends. They do not, however, on this account, cease 
from teaching and preaching the popish doctrines to all 
those, over whom they have acquired influence ; but on 
the contrary they seem, judging from outward appear- 
ance, to be most firm believers in them, and become their 
most zealous defenders accordingly. Having embraced 
the priesthood as a profession, they are determined to get 
a subsistence by it, and being well aware, that the greater 
the darkness and ignorance of the people, the greater will 
be the respect attached to their own persons, and conse- 
quently the greater also their emoluments : they therefore, 
zealously propagate the Romish tenets, and conform 
themselves outwardly to the practice of them. Their 



46 SIX YEARS IN THE 

chief care is to increase the reign of ignorance and su- 
perstition by a few well-told tales taken from the brevi- 
ary, or from some other saint-book ; exciting thereby the 
devotion of the people, and creating a most furious belief 
in the most absurd doctrines. By this manner of acting, 
they find themselves the gainers, and in process of time, 
the long habit of deceiving others ends at last in deceiv- 
ing themselves, and though scarcely believing in the first 
principles of Christianity, they flatter themselves into a 
belief of being very good Christians. Such is human 
delusion, and such are the evil effects necessarily flowing 
from popish doctrines ! 

It may be thought by many, that I am inventing stories 
for the purpose of heaping odium on the church of Rome,- 
whilst relating some of the ridiculous tales extracted from 
the breviary ; but as the book is still extant, and to be 
found inthe hands, or at least on the book-shelf,* of every 
popish priest in this country, those who doubt the au- 
thenticity of my extracts, are invited to examine for 
themselves. Indeed the doubt of their authenticity is 
perfectly reasonable, for the judicious mind can hardly 
conceive it possible, that such a farrago of absurdities 
could be offered to the belief of any one possessed of the 
powers of reason. But as the actual existence of those 
absurdities includes also their possibility, I have nothing 
more to do than give them as they are. 

* Very many priests keep it only to save appearances, as a book 
which they are supposed to be never without, though they never open 
it unless in the presence of others; thereby, according to some of 
their own moralists, committing one mortal sin for every day 
they neglect to recite the canonical hours from it ; and according to 
others, committing a mortal sin for every one of the hours not recited, 
which, the canonical hours being seven, make seven mortal sins per 
diem — a good round number in a year ! How many then in a long 
life] 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC 47 



CHAPTER IX. 

Design of the Breviary — Pius V.'s bull — Extract from it — Marcellus 
— Life of Gregory the Great — His works — Life of Leo I. — His 
great exploits — Remarks thereon — Nunneries of Tuscany. 

The first and leading feature of the breviary is its ten- 
dency to extol and confirm the usurped authority of the 
Bishop of Rome. It begins with the bull of a pope con- 
firming its contents and anathematizing any one — (God 
help me and all Protestants, if the pope's anathema be 
any injury !) — who would have the boldness to call in 
question any thing contained in it, or who would dare 
substitute any other book in its place. Thus the breviary 
published immediately after, the council of Trent by 
command of Pius V., is fortified with a bull from that 
pope, beginning with the words " Quod a nobis,"* in 
which complaint is made, that the former breviaries had 
been corrupted in several places, and that the clergy were 
accustomed to shorten, by their own authority, the offices 
of the saints, in order to spend less time in reciting them. 
It then goes on to command, that from and after the pub- 
lication of this bull, the breviary, of which it is a con- 
firmation, should be used throughout the whole Christian 
world, and that all other breviaries published anterior to 
it should be considered as abolished and prohibited. It 
also ordains, that the breviary in question should not be 
printed in any other part of the world than Rome,t with- 
out express leave from the pope himself. All the fore- 

* The bulls of popes are generally called from the words they begin 
with : thus the bull by which Clement XI. condemned the Jansenists, 
is called the bull " Unigenitus" from its beginning with the words 
" Unigenitus Dei filius." 

■j- This clause is manifestly intended for the purpose of drawing 
money into the pope's treasury ; as it may be supposed, that leave to 
print the breviary in Paris, and in other Roman Catholic countries, 
would not be granted unless well paid for. There is in the Phila- 
delphia Library an edition of Pius V.'s breviary printed at Paris. 



48 SIX YEARS IN THE 

going articles are ordered to be observed strictly, under 
pain of excommunication — the usual threat for enforcing 
the pope's commands. The original words are : " Sed 
ut breviarium ipsum ubique inviolatum et incorruptum 
habeatur, prohibemus, ne alibi usquam (praeter Romae, 

scil.) in toto orbe sine nostra expressa licen- 

tia imprimatur vel recipiatur. Quoscunque, qui illud 
secus impresserint, vel receperint, excommunicationis 
sententia eo ipso innodamus." The concluding words 
of this bull are so remarkable, that, although they do not 
strictly belong to the present subject, I cannot refrain 
from copying them, especially as the same, with very 
little alteration, are the concluding words of all bulls 
promulgated by the authority of the purple tyrant. They 
fully show forth the arrogant pretensions and overbearing 
policy of that church, which claims for itself alone an 
unlimited power over the souls and bodies of God's 
people, and which power it does not actually exercise to 
the destruction and downfall of pure Christianity, and of 
every principle that ennobles man's nature, only through 
inability to enforce it. The words are the following : 
" Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nos- 
tra? ablationis, et abolitionis, permissionis, revocationis, 
praecepti, mandati, decreti, prohibitionis, cohortationis, vo- 
luntatis infringere, vel ei ausu temerario contraire. Si quis 
autem attentare praesumpserit, indignationem omnipotentis 
Dei, ac beatorum Petri et Pauli, apostolorum ejus se no- 
verit incursurum. Dat. Romae apud Sanctum Petrum, 
anno incarnationis Dominicae MDLXVIII. Sep. Idus 
Iul. Pontificatus nostri, anno tertio." (" Let not any one 
therefore break through, or go against this our page of 
abolition, ablation, (of the former breviaries,) revocation, 
precept, command, decree, prohibition, exhortation, and 
will ; or dare act contrary to it. But if any one dare 
attempt to do so, he may be sure of incurring the in" 
dignation of Almighty God, and of his blessed apos- 
tles, Peter and Paul. Dated at Rome from St. Peter's in 
the year of the Lord's incarnation, 1568, on the seventh 
of the Ides of July, and in the third year of our pontifi 
cate." 



MONASTERIES OF ITALT, ETC. 49 

The life of every pope, from the first to the beginning 
of the fifth century, is fraught with fables of their sanc- 
tity and supremacy ; and of the many miracles performed 
by them in defending and upholding the religion of Christ 
among the Pagans of the day. Their supremacy espe- 
cially, and the acknowledgment of it by the laity and 
clergy of the primitive church, are things more particu-* 
larly dwelt upon. Out of a great many stories of this 
kind, I will select a few, which, to avoid all suspicion 
of fiction, must be given in the language of the breviary — 
the Latin. The translation is annexed for the use of 
those not acquainted with that language. 

In the life of Marcellus, pope and martyr, whose festi- 
val is celebrated by the church of Rome, on the 15th of 
January, we are told that he performed the office of high 
priest, or pope, during the reign of Constantius and Ga- 
lerius ; that, by his advice, two Roman matrons bestowed 
their riches (a broad hint to modern Roman women) on 
the church ; the one, named Priscilla, having built a 
cemetery for the use of the Christians ; the other, called 
Lucina, having bequeathed all her wealth to the disposal 
of the church, without specifying any particular object. 
We are further informed, that the holy pontiff wrote an 
epistle to the bishops of the province of Antioch, in which 
he claims the primacy for the church at Home, and in 
which he evidently proves to demonstration, that that 
church should be called the head of all other churches. 
We are told, that in the same epistle there can be found 
written these words : — " No council can be lawfully 
assembled nor celebrated without the authority of the 
supreme pontiff"* The original Latin is as follows : 

* Summus Pontifex, or Pontifex Maximus, was an officer in pagan 
Rome, who had the direction of the sacrifices and ceremonies ap- 
pointed to be performed in honour of the gods. It was his duty also 
to go through the ceremonies of augury. The modern Christian 
Romans, imitating their pagan ancestors in this as well as many 
other things, call the bishop of their city " Pontifex Maximus," or in 
Italian " Summo Pontefice." It is a remarkable coincidence, that the 
same name is given by the Tartars to their Grand Lama, who is 
adored and worshipped by them in the same way as the pope is by 
Romanists. 

6 



50 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Marcellus Romanus a Constantio et Galerio usque ad 
Maxentium pontificatum gessit ; cujus hortatu duae ma- 
tronae Romanae, Priscilla coemeterium suis sumptibus 
.... edificandum curavit ; Lucina bonorum suorum 

Dei ecclesiam fecit haeredem Scripsit episto- 

lam ad episcopos Antiochenae provinciae de primatu Ro- 
mance ecclesias, quam caput ecclesiarum appellandam 
demonstrat. TJbi etiam illud scriptum est, " nullum con- 
cilium jure celebrari, nisi ex auctoritate summi pontifi- 
•cis." 

The foregoing story is probably intended to show forth 
the authority of bishops of Rome in the first ages of the 
church. By Marcellus being represented to have per- 
suaded two Roman matrons to leave their property at the 
disposal of the church, it is hinted, that those who act 
so, are doing something meritorious in the sight of God ; 
and that such actions should be more frequently imitated 
in modern times. His writing an epistle to the bishop 
of Antioch and his suffragans, claiming primacy for the 
church at Rome, and endeavouring to prove that this 
church is the head of all other churches, is nothing else 
than making him arrogate to himself and his church an 
authority, which, it may be supposed, he never once 
thought upon ; papal supremacy being evidently the in- 
vention of later years. 

The next life we give an extract from, is that of Gre- 
gory the First. In him, a pope is held up as an example 
of humility, charity, and learning. Fearing to be elected 
to the popedom, he hid himself in a cave ; but being 
discovered by means of a pillar of fire, indicating the 
place in which he lay hid, much against his will, he is 
conducted to St. Peter's, and there consecrated. He 
invited to his table daily a number of pilgrims, and once 
had the happiness to receive, as his guests, an angel, and 
the Lord of angels, disguised as pilgrims. He restored 
the Catholic faith, which was declining in many places. 
He repressed the boldness of John, Patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, ivho arrogated to himself the title of uni- 
versal bishop. He turned away from his purpose the 
Emperor Mauritius, who wished to hinder those that 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 51 

were formerly soldiers from becoming monks. He wrote 
many books, which, whilst dictating, Peter, the deacon, 
often saw the Holy Ghost over his head in the form of a 
dove. Truly admirable were the things which he said, 
which he did, which he wrote, and which he decreed. 
Having performed many miracles, he was at length called 
to heavenly happiness ; and the day on which he died 
is observed as a festival even by the Greeks, on account 
of the eminent sanctity of so great a pontiff. (Gregorius 

Magnus, honorem (pontificatus) ne acciperet, 

quamdiu potuit, recusavit : nam alieno vestitu in spelunca 
dilituit, ubi deprehensus igneae columnae indicio, ad Sanc- 
tum Petrum consecratur. Perigrinos quotidie ad mensam 
adhibuit, in quibus et angelum, et angelorum dominum 
perigrini facie accepit. Catholicam fidem multis locis 
labefactatam restituit. Joannis Patriarchs Constantino- 
politanae ecclesiag audaciam fregit, qui sibi universalis 
ecclesios episcopi nomen arrogabat. Mauritium impera- 
torem hos, qui milites fuerunt, monachos fieri prohiben- 
tem a sententia deterruit. Multos libros confecit, quos 
cum dictarat, testatur Petrus Diaconus, se spiritum sanc- 
tum columbae specie in ejus capite saepe vidisse. Admi- 

rabilia sunt, qua? dixit, fecit, scripsit, decrevit 

Qui denique, multis editis miraculis, quarto Idus Martii, 
qui dies festus a Graecis etiam propter insignem hujus 
pontificis sanctitatem praecipuo honore celebratur, ad 
caslestem beatitudinem evocatus est.) 

The life of Gregory, as it stands in the breviary, for 
there are related various lives of the same pope, differing 
from one another as much as popery differs from pure 
Christianity, is intended to set forth to the world an ex- 
ample of a pope, humble, charitable, and learned. His 
humility in refusing the popedom, and his charity in 
relieving the wants of pilgrims, and in inviting them to 
his own table, are worthy of admiration, if true, and 
worthy of imitation by his successors. The fable of his 
having entertained at his table an angel, and the Lord of 
angels, carries with it its own refutation, as does also the 
attestation of Peter, the deacon, who swore that he often 
saw a dove, i. e. the Holy Ghost, inspiring him whilst 



52 SIX YEARS IN THE 

he dictated his works — works, too, which, taking them 
in general, would do very little honour to a man of sense 
and talents, relying on his own natural genius. How 
must they then derogate from the honour of the Deity, 
when attributed to the Holy Ghost? The papal su- 
premacy is never lost sight of; it is never omitted to be 
brought before the mind of the reader of the breviary, 
whenever an opportunity presents. For the sake of up- 
holding that supremacy, every thing having the appear- 
ance of an argument in its favour is brought forward. 
Thus, Gregory breaks the boldness (such is the literal 
translation of the Latin word " frangere") of another, his 
equal in dignity, who assumes the title of "universal 
bishop." From this we are led to infer, that to the 
Bishop of Rome alone such a title belongs. For the 
many wonderful things which he did and said, I fear the 
world now-a-days have not that respect which in the 
opinion of some they deserve. No, thank God and the 
Bible, the world is growing daily too wise to be duped 
any longer by lying wonders. 

The life of Leo I. is another proof that the sole desire, 
indeed the chief end of the breviary, is the exalting of 
popes above their fellow man. We will relate it as it 
stands in the breviary. 

Leo the First, by birth a Tuscan, governed the church 
of God at the time that Attila, King of the Huns, sur- 
named " the scourge of God," invaded Italy, and, after 
a siege of three years, plundered, and afterwards set fire 
to the city of Aquila. He was already preparing to pass 
the Mincius with his army, in order to attack Rome itself, 
when Leo went to meet him, and persuaded him, by his 
divine eloquence, to lay aside his purpose. Attila, being 
afterwards asked by his followers, " for what reason, 
contrary to his uusual custom, he had so humbly obeyed 
the commands of the pontiff?" made answer, " that he 
feared a supernatural being, dressed in the habit of a 
priest, who threatened him with instant death if he dared 
resist the commands of Leo." Among others of his holy 
statutes, there is to be found one by which it is decreed, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC 53 

that no nun in future should receive a blessed covering for 
her head unless she could prove forty years of virginity. 
(Leo Primus, Etruscus, eo tempore praefuit ecclesiae cum 
rex Hunnorum Attila, cognomento flagellum Dei, in 
Italiam invadens, Aqueleiam triennii obsidione captam 
diripuisset, incendit ; unde cum Roman ardenti furore 
raperetur, jamque copias, ubi Mincius in Padum influit, 
trajicere pararet, occurrit ei Leo, malorum Italiae miseri- 
cordia permotus, cujus divina eloquentia persuasum est 
Attilae, ut regrederetur, qui interrogates a suis, quid esset, 
quod praeter consuetudinem tarn humiliter Romani pon- 
tificis imperata faceret, respondit, se stantem alium, illo 
loquente, sacerdotali habitu veritum esse, sibi stricto 
gladio minitantem mortem, nisiLeoni obtemperaret. 
Statuit, (Leo) et sanxit, ne monacha benedictum capitis 
velum reciperet, nisi quadriginta annorum virginitatem 
probasset.) 

Leo, surnamed the Great, is ushered into our notice, 
under the usual title of governor of the church, (rexit 
ecclesiam,) in order to make us believe that on him alone, 
and, consequently, on his successors in the Roman see, 
devolves all ecclesiastical government. He is represented 
as compassionating the forlorn state of Italy, ravaged by 
the conquering Hunn, and fearlessly going forth to meet 
him, and exerting his divine eloquence in order to turn 
him from his design of invading Rome. But why did 
Attila obey his commands ? for what were but entreaties 
in the beginning, are, under the magical hands of the 
compilers of the breviary, transformed into commands 
(imperata) in the very next sentence. Because he feared 
death, which St. Peter, who is intended by the super- 
natural appearance of the person in the habit of a priest, 
and with a drawn sword in his hand, threatened him with, 
unless he obeyed the pontiff. "What other good or glori- 
ous thing did he perform, in order to justly deserve the 
surname of great? Why, he ordained that nuns should 
prove forty years' virginity before that the veils, which 
they wore on their heads, would be sprinkled with holy 
water ! A truly great edict, and well worthy of a pope. 

6* 



54 SIX YEARS IN THE 

This is also an indirect way of holding- up to public ad- 
miration the detestable system of secluding females in 
nunneries, and of extolling virginity as the greatest of ail 
virtues. Human nature, and nuns too, must have been 
very different in the time of Leo from what they are now- 
a-days, or few, very few nuns obtained the honour of a 
blessed veil.* 



CHAPTER X. 

Continuation of extracts from the Breviary — Marcellinus — The pope 
sacrifices to idols — Why he could not be judged by the church — 
Infallibility, a species of impeccability — John — The testimony of a 
horse in favour of his claims — Remarks thereon — A sample of 
Gregory the Great's works — Review of the Bishop of Rome's claim 
to supremacy — Never acknowledged by the Greek church — Unin- 
terrupted succession — Imaginary popes manufactured. 

Not to weary the reader too much, I will give in my 
own words, without adhering, as I have done hitherto, to 
the letter of the breviary, extracts from the lives of two 
popes more — saints, to be sure, as popes always are. 

Marcellinus, who lived in the reign of Dioclesmp 
having sacrificed to idols, and repenting of his apostasy 
afterward, presented himself before an assembly of one 
hundred and eighty bishops, in order to ask pardon of the 
church for the scandal he had given, and to receive the 

* Scipio Ricci, Bishop of Pistoja, in Tuscany, has had the honesty 
to give the world a view of the private life of nuns. His description 
of the vices and immoralities practised in the Dominican nunnery 
of Sienna, better known by the name of " Santa Catarina," (St. 
Catharine's,) would not bear recital. The smaller nunneries of his 
own diocess (Pistoja) were equally sunk in impiety, and unnameable 
vices. His testimony cannot be suspected ; for it was in the exercise 
of his visitatorial office, to which he was appointed by the court 
of Rome, that he made the discoveries (which, by-the-way, were 
only a confirmation of his former suspicions) above alluded to. His 
work " on Nunneries" has been translated into English, and printed 
in London some few years back. I am not aware that it has been 
reprinted as yet in America. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 55 

usual penance.* The whole assembly unanimously cried 
out, when made acquainted with the object of its convoca- 
tion, " that it had no authority to judge him, for the supreme 
pastor cannot be judged by an earthly tribunal" — " Nam 
prima sedes anemine judicatur." Now, the question na- 
turally arises, had Marcellinus the attribute of infallibility 
attached to his person, or even to his office, when he scan- 
dalized the church by sacrificing to idols ? The answer is 
plain, nor is the difficulty easily got over by the advocates 
of papal infallibility, though they endeavour to shelter them- 
selves under a covering of metaphysical distinctions, such 
as " loquens vel agens ex cathedra, aut non ex cathedra." 
(Speaking or acting from his chair of office, or not from 
his chair.t) In this erring pope, however, the claim of 
supremacy is not forgotten, for the synod is represented 
by the breviary, crying out with one accord, " that it had 

* It was customary in the ancient church to make public sinners 
do public penance in presence of the congregation, on certain days 
appointed for that purpose. Among the public sinners Were classed 
those, who, either through weakness or fear of torture, had sacrificed 
to idols. m 

■f The pope is said to be infallible, when he establishes any article 
of faith necessary to be believed by the whole church, or when he per- 
forms any public act which the faithful cannot sin by imitating. If 
he should, as many popes have done, fall into error and heresy, the 
difficulty is got over by distinguishing between his public and private 
character : as a man, he can err ; as a pope, he can never err. In 
the case of Pope Marcellinus, it is to be presumed that he acted in a 
public capacity whilst sacrificing to idols ; and thereby established the 
lawfulness of idol-worship. Where then is that boasted infallibility, 
or was it even thought upon in the ages of the primitive church 1 
We have on record various popes who erred in articles of faith — es- 
sential articles too, and who are excused in the way mentioned above, 
or by making an appeal to the weakness of human nature. But they 
are not to be censured so much for their errors, as for claiming to bo 
superior to error, or above it — in fine, for claiming as their due, an 
attribute belonging to God alone — a species of impeccability. The 
scandalous lives of some popes are too well known to need any com- 
ment. The names of Alexander VI. and John XXII. will go down 
to the latest posterity, linked with the names of Nero, Robespierre, 
and Henry VIII. of England, or with some other names rendered 
immortal by tyranny, cruelty, lust, and debauchery. What worthy 
representatives of Christ ! 



56 SIX YEARS IN THE 

no power to judge or give the usual penance to the Vicar 
of Christ." What, an unblushing disregard for truth is 
here apparent in the compilers of the breviary ! What 
an anachronism ! The title of " Vicar of Christ" or that 
of " Supreme Pastor" was never given to the Bishop of 
Rome, or acknowledged by any portion of the Christian 
church, till many centuries after ; that is, until the Church 
of Rome obtained temporal dominion, and resolved to 
use it in forcing her subjects to acknowledge whatever 
claim her bishop might think proper to assume. This 
is a fact well known to every reader of ecclesiastical 
history. 

The following, which shall be the last extract relating 
to popes, has in it something so ridiculous, and at the 
same time sets forth in so strong a light the pitiable con- 
trivances of the defenders of a false religion, and their 
monstrous deviations from truth, that I cannot refrain from 
mentioning it, though at the hazard of being thought 
wearisome. It is taken from the life of John I. 

John, by birth a Tuscan, ruled the church in the reign 
of Justin the Elder. He was obliged to flee from Rome 
on account of the persecutions of Theodoric, a heretical 
king, and take refuge in Constantinople at the court of 
the emperor. His journey to the latter capital was re- 
markable for miracles, and for the singular testimony 
which one of the brute creation bore to his really being 
the Vicar of Christ. The circumstances connected with 
the brute's testimony are the following : the pope bor- 
rowed a horse from a certain nobleman, to carry him 
a part of the way, which horse, on account of its tame- 
ness and gentleness, was set apart for the sole use of the 
nobleman's wife. On its being returned to the owner, 
the lady, of course, attempted to use it as formerly, but, 
mirabile dictu, the horse, from being so gentle and tame 
before, became on a sudden wild and restive, and more 
especially so, whenever the lady approached for the pur- 
pose of getting on its back ; the animal scorning (says 
the breviary) to carry a woman, since it had been once 
honoured by carrying the Vicar of Christ. (Quasi in- 
dignaretur mulierem recipere, ex quo sedisset in eo Christi 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 57 

Vicarius.) On which account the horse was made a 
present of to the supreme pontiff.* 

What follows will be thought a still greater miracle. 
On the pontiff 1 s entering the gates of Constantinople, he 
was met by an immense concourse of people, which, with 
the emperor at its head, advanced to meet him in order to 
do him honour. There, in presence of the emperor and 
of the assembled multitude, he performed a most stupen- 
dous miracle, by giving sight to a blind man. The em- 
peror and his people, seeing his power and its effects, 
immediately and with one accord prostrated themselves 
at his feet, and adored him! — Cujus ad pedes prostratus 
etiam imperator veneratus est. On returning to Italy, he 
commanded that all the churches built by the Arians 
should be consecrated for Catholic worship ; which com- 
mand so displeased the heretical king, Theodoric, that 
having got possession of the person of the holy pontiff 
by stratagem, he cast him into prison, where he soon 
after died of the privations which he underwent. The- 
odoric himself did not long survive him. It is related by 
St. Gregory, another pope, that a certain pious hermit 
saw his soul immersed in the liquid flames of Lipari,t in 
the presence of Pope John, and of another person, whose 
death he had also caused. 

Here is a pope, whose whole life was taken up in per- 
forming the pontifical duties and in working miracles, to 
which, mind, a belief equal to that given to any of the 
miracles of the gospel, is required to be given. Without 
inquiring, whether it became him as a shepherd to desert 
his flock, and leaving it to the rage and fury of a perse- 

* It may be asked, whether the bones of this holy horse are pre- 
served, as they ought to be, in some church for the veneration of the 
faithful ? To this very pertinent question, I can answer neither ne- 
gatively nor affirmatively ; but thus far I can say, that there are much 
more ridiculous relics daily held out to be kissed and bowed down to 
by the devotees of popish Europe. — But of this more in a separate 
chapter. 

f Lipari, an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Sicily, in 
which there is a large volcano. It is not far from the celebrated one 
of Mongibello, or Mount Etna, which can be seen from it. A sweet 
delicious wine, called Marvasia, is there produced in abundance. 



58 SIX TEARS IN THE 

cuting tyrant, to seek refuge and protection for himself; 
let us accompany him on his journey to Constantinople. 
The story about the horse is so shamelessly absurd, that 
were a horse able to comprehend it, he would probably 
kick at the narrator for his disregard for truth. But then 
the horse was given as a present to the pope. Yes, and 
why not? The pope very probably wanted one, and — if, 
indeed, there be even the shadow of a foundation for this 
bare-faced lie — so jockeyed that which was lent to him, 
that he made the poor beast serve a double purpose ; 
his own profit, by having it bestowed to him ; and his 
character, by being, through its means, confirmed in 
the assumed title of Vicar of Christ. That title and the 
authority attached to it, must certainly have very little 
foundation in truth, even in the opinion of its supporters, 
when they grasp at so ridiculous a testimony as a horse's. 
Were such a story related to the inhabitants of modern 
Rome, they would reply, with the Italian shrug of the 
shoulders, that the horse was priest-ridden, (which is 
literally true,) or had been fascinated by the pope ; the 
power of fascination being attributed to the holy father, 
as well as the power of the keys. It is most probable, 
however, that the story has no foundation whatever in 
truth, it being merely an invention of modern popery, fit 
to be used as an argument, through want of a better, in 
favour of an assumed authority. 

The miracle of giving sight to a blind man, is nothing 
more than a preliminary to what follows; that is, to the 
adoration of the pope by the emperor and people. Cer- 
tainly, the like adoration is practised daily by modern 
worshippers of the pope, without so good a cause for 
such impiety as had been given by the forementioned mi- 
racle, whether true or fictitious. As to Gregory's fable 
about the hermit who saw Theodoric's soul plunged into 
the liquid fire of Lipari, it is too ridiculous for serious 
comment. It gives, however, a sample of Gregory's 
works — works, which, as has been before related, are 
blasphemously attributed to the Holy Spirit that was seen 
in the form of a dove hovering around the author's head, 
whilst dictating them. The rest of his works, with very 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 59 

few exceptions, are on a par with this story — the ravings 
of the disordered imagination of a bedlamite. 

The foregoing extracts clearly show, that the authority 
of the pope, and the bringing forward arguments in sup- 
port of that authority, are things constantly kept in view 
by the compilers of the breviary whilst relating the lives 
and exploits of the first bishops of Rome. They seem 
never to pay any regard to history, or to the authentic 
records of the ancient church, which are either entirely 
silent on the subject of supremacy, it being a claim then 
unknown ; or when mention is made of it, it is only to 
repress the presumption of some bishop daring to claim 
it for himself. The Greek church, long before its final 
separation from the Latin, which did not take place till 
towards the middle of the eleventh century, never ac- 
knowledged that the Bishop of Rome had a greater 
extent of authority in the universal church than any 
other bishop had in his own particular diocess, and there- 
fore regarded with becoming contempt, and resisted every 
attempt made by the Roman bishops to bring the eastern 
churches under their sway. In the famous controversy 
relating to the procession of the Holy Ghost, Photius, 
the patriarch of Jerusalem, having been excommunicated 
by Pope Nicholas, convened an assembly, and pro- 
nounced sentence of excommunication against Nicholas 
himself in return, which he got subscribed by twenty 
bishops, and others, amounting in all to one thousand. 
This occurred in the middle of the ninth century. I 
mention it here chiefly to show, that supremacy, how- 
ever it may be laid claim to by the church of Rome, was 
never acknowledged by the whole Christian church. 
The claims to supremacy being then without foundation, 
infallibility, of which it is the support, falls of its own 
accord. 

As for the sanctity of life, and performance of miracles 
attributed to the early bishops of Rome, some better 
authority than that of the breviary is needed, in order to 
justly give them any degree of credence. There cer- 
tainly were, it may be supposed, many pious and holy 
men overseers of the Christian community in the church 



60 SIX TEARS IN THE 

at Rome during the ages of pagan idolatry, but the names 
of the greater number of these are lost, having never 
reached beyond their own times, by reason of the dis- 
tracted state of the primitive church. In order, however, 
to make up an uninterrupted succession from St. Peter 
down to our own days, many who never existed at all but 
in the brain of some monkish annalist, are made claim- 
ants for infallibility and supremacy. Lives are written 
for them, and miracles are related, as if performed by 
them : the imaginary saints are enrolled in the army of 
martyrs or confessors, as it may best suit the purpose or 
the fancy of their biographers to make them either the one 
or the other,* But so far from the succession of the 
bishops of Rome being uninterrupted, it is even doubted 
by many historians, whether St. Peter was ever at Rome 
at all. He certainly was at Antioch, and preached there 
the glad tidings of salvation, but his having been at Rome 
by no means rests on equal certainty. The church of 
Antioch, therefore, seems to have a better right to the 
title of the first see, if that title be essentially attached 
(which it is not) to the person of Peter ; or if indeed 
such a title belongs by right to any ehurch whatever. 
If then the reality of St. Peter's ever having been at 
Rome be in itself a matter of doubt, with how much 
greater reason may the fabulous lives of many, who are 
called his successors, be called in question. And even 
granting, for the moment, that" those men did exist, does 
it then follow, they arrogated to themselves the anti- 

* Confessor, according to the signification attached to the word by 
the ancient church, means a Christian, who, of his own accord, pre- 
sented himself before the tribunal of some persecuting judge, and 
openly avowed his belief in the religion of Jesus Christ. If brought 
before that tribunal by force, but did not deny the faith, when ques- 
tioned by the judge, he was called also a confessor, though of a class 
inferior to the former. If punished by death for this open avowal, 
he is styled a martyr. The Romish church calls every monk, whom 
the folly of his order had got canonized or beatified, by the specious 
name of ' confessor ,•' though far from confessing Christ to be God, he 
never thought about the matter at all, and only confessed the pope to 
be infallible and supreme pastor of the church. How different from 
the primitive confessors I 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 61 

Christian attributes of modern popes ? Did they claim 
supremacy and infallibility, or did they endeavour to 
exalt themselves and their see at the expense of every 
gospel precept ? If we believe the breviary, we must 
say, " they did." But the few extracts I have given 
from it, showing what stress should be laid on its author- 
ity, will, I trust, caution the reader from coming to that 
conclusion. I leave him, however, to judge for himself, 
and make use of his own powers of discrimination, 
whilst I proceed to the examination of another portion 
of the same book — that containing the memoirs of the 
saints, or deified men who were not popes. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Continuation of extracts from the Breviary — St. Vincent Ferreri — 
Miracle — Suspension of the laws of nature — Remarks — Adoration 
of Vincent at Valencia — St. Anthony of Padua — Preaches to the 
birds — Hymn composed in his honour — His miracles — Sailing 
without ship or boat — Removal of mountains — St. Denis walking 
with his head in his hand — Shrine of an Italian saint — Conclud- 
ing remarks on the Breviary. 

No doctrine is so fondly adhered to by the church of 
Rome as the invocation of saints, nor is there any other 
supported by so monstrous a mass of absurd fables as the 
same. The greater part of the breviary is taken up in 
relating the actions and miracles performed by them, and 
in giving a history of the many favours and graces ob- 
tained through their intercession, by the numerous devo- 
tees, who idolatrously bow down to and worship their 
images and relics. No fable is thought too absurd, no 
pretended miracle too contradictory, when related as be- 
ing performed by some saint. The lives of monks espe- 
cially — and the greater part of modern saints were either 
monks or nuns — are dwelt upon with peculiar emphasis. 
Their poverty, their self-denial, their obedience, are all 
related in classical Latin. Then comes the history of 
the miracles performed by them, of how they were cano- 

7 



62 SIX YEARS IN THE 

nized, and of the favours obtained at their shrine before 
and after canonization. I shall make two or three ex- 
tracts from the many, whose absurdity renders them 
worthy of remark. "I shall give them in my own words, 
inviting those, who may be inclined to doubt their au- 
thenticity, to examine for themselves. 

In the life of St. Vincent Ferreri, a Dominican friar, 
we are told that he performed so many miracles, that his 
superior, fearing lest their frequency would make them 
be undervalued in the eyes of the people, deemed it pru- 
dent to command him to abstain from miracle-working in 
future, without having obtained first express leave from 
himself. This command, Vincent, like a good monk, 
submitted to, being always remarkable for his prompt 
obedience. It happened one day after this prohibition, 
as he was returning from celebrating mass at the cathe- 
dral church of Valencia, that he saw a mason in the act 
of falling from a scaffold erected on the side of a high 
building. Not being allowed to assist him by a miracle 
without express leave from his superior, and being at this 
time more than a mile from his convent, he cried out to 
the falling mason, " Stop there, suspended between earth 
and heaven, till I go to my convent, and obtain permis- 
sion from my superior to assist thee and to miraculously 
restore thee to life, if, as is most probable, thou shouldst 
be killed by the fall." So saying, Vincent hurried away 
as fast as his feet could carry him to his convent in order 
to obtain the desired permission, and having laid the case 
before his superior, he happily obtained it. In the mean 
time, crowds assembled from all parts of the city to see 
the mason miraculously sitting in the air without any 
support ; and being informed that it was caused by com- 
mand of the holy Vincent, his fame grew more and more 
.' with the people. The story then tells us, that the mason 
was rescued from his perilous situation by the endeavours 
of those assembled, and so saved Vincent the trouble of 
restoring him to life, if he were killed. 

This story, ridiculous as it may seem, is nevertheless 
strongly believed by many devotees of his Dominican 
saintship. Indeed, a belief in it is sanctioned by the head 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 63 

of the Romish church himself, it having been declared a 
true miracle by an assembly of cardinals and bishops 
held at Rome previous to the canonization of Vincent, 
and brought forward as one of his strongest claims for 
being enrolled among the number of saints. Pictures re- 
presenting the miracle are everywhere to be found in the 
Dominican churches, whilst smaller ones, engraved de- 
signedly for the use of the common people, are to be found 
in their houses and pasted on their walls. There is a 
Dominican convent at Chieti, a town of the province of 
the Abruzzi, in the kingdom of Naples, in the church of 
which the subject of this miracle is taken for an altar- 
piece.* I was once conversing with a Spanish priest, 
whom I saw at Rome, on the subject of this miracle, and 
on the extraordinary adoration paid to Vincent by all 
Spaniards, and more especially by the citizens of Valencia. 
He assured me, that the doubting of any one thing attri- 
buted to St. Vincent, would be thought by the Valencians 
the greatest of all heresies, and that the unfortunate skeptic 
would incur the risk of being torn asunder by the enraged 
rabble. Even in the pulpits, where it might be supposed, 
at least, that nothing but the vital principles of Christian- 
ity would be preached, Dominican preachers relate the 
life and miracles of St. Vincent to an astonished mul- 
titude, and he is esteemed the best preacher, who can 
preach the best panegyric on their favourite saint. His 
festival is held in Valencia a day of rejoicing ; the guns 
of the garrison are fired, and the soldiers present their 
arms to his image as it is carried processionally through 
the streets, dressed up in a Dominican habit, surrounded 
by the clergy with large wax torches in their hands, and 
followed by the multitude crying out, " Gracia, Santo 
Vincentio; gracia, Santo Vincentio." (Favour, St. Vin- 
cent ; favour, St. Vincent.) 

* An altar-piece means that picture which is placed over the altar 
of popish churches. It is generally a representation of the crucifixion, 
or of the last supper, or of some other remarkable event mentioned in 
the gospel. Monks, in place of these scriptural pieces, generally have 
for altar-pieces the picture of their founder, or of some saint of their 
order. 



64 SIX TEARS IN THE 

One thing is more especially remarkable in the forego- 
ing story. Vincent, though expressly forbidden under 
pain of disobedience to work any more miracles, yet 
when he saw the imminent danger of the poor mason, 
forgot his prohibition altogether. How then did he re- 
concile this act of disobedience with the vow, by which 
he promised to obey to the letter every command, which 
his superior might think fit to lay upon him ? It is got 
over by saying, that his holy simplicity did not allow 
him to imagine, that causing a suspension of the laws of 
nature could be thought a transgression against the com- 
mand of his superior, and he therefore ordered the mason 
to remain in the air, until he could get his leave.* 

Our next extract from the breviary is taken from the 
life of St. Anthony of Padua. 

" Anthony was born at Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, 
From his very birth he gave evident signs of his future 
holiness. While yet an infant at his mother's breast, he 
was observed to abstain from her milk every Friday and 
fast-day, though on other days he satisfied his hunger 
like any other child. He was early distinguished for 
the love he bore to the friars of the Franciscan order. 
One day, a Franciscan lay-brothert came to his father's 
house begging for something to supply the wants of his 
convent ; but being refused, the child Anthony, then only 
six months old, broke out into a fit of crying, and became 






* The above was a case of conscience (as like cases are called) 
actually given by a lecturer on moral theology to his students: and 
which, after having been debated upon for some hours, was, in the 
end, decided to the satisfaction of all present, by attributing the act of 
disobedience on the part of Vincent to a holy simplicity. The case 
was the more difficult, because no one could have the boldness to 
bring a verdict of sinfulness against the saint, the miracle having had 
the approval of the pope, and therefore unimpeachable. 

-j- Lay-brothers are the servants of the monasteries, and generally 
go about the towns and villages, collecting money for the service of 
the community. They are, for the most part, very ignorant ; few of 
them having ever learned to read. They are professed, like the other 
friars, and instead of the office from the breviary, they mumble over 
so many Pater-nosters and Ave Marias. Many of them become 
saints. Ignorance is the mother of popish sanctity* 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 65 

so agitated throughout his whole frame, that his mother 
suspecting the reason, deemed it necessary to call the lay- 
brother back, and contribute to his wants. The child was 
then instantly appeased, and showed evidently by his 
laughing in the face of the lay-brother, and playing with 
his beard, what was the cause of his crying. At two 
years old, he was a constant attendant at the holy sacri- 
fice of the mass ; and even at that early age, learned 
without an instructer the manner of answering the priest, 
while celebrating that divine ceremony. At the age of 
fourteen, he embraced the Franciscan order, and distin- 
guished himself in a short time for his love of fasting and 
other mortifications. He never ate but one meal a day, 
during lent, and that very sparingly. To mortify every 
desire of the flesh, he was accustomed to mix ashes with 
his food, lest he should experience the slightest enjoy- 
ment from the sense of taste. Having finished his stu- 
dies and being ordained priest, he was deemed a fit sub- 
ject to send as missionary to Turkey. But God, who 
had chosen him from his infancy to be a vessel of elec- 
tion, designed him for another work — the work of con- 
verting the city of Padua, at that time sunk deep in the 
mire of vice and debauchery." 

The ship in which he left Lisbon, being obliged by 
unfavourable weather to put into Venice, the saint retired 
to his convent in the latter city. A preacher being 
wanted for the neighbouring city of Padua, the man of 
God was chosen (God himself surely directing the 
choice) to carry the words of life to that dissolute city. 
The Paduans at first refused to listen to him, but he at- 
tracted their attention by a stupendous miracle. One 
day, the clamour became louder than usual against hear- 
ing the word of God, when the saint, turning away from 
the stone-hearted people, invited the birds of the air to 
come and hear the tidings of salvation. In an instant, 
the church was filled with birds, which, forgetting their 
natural timidity, perched on every side around the pul- 
pit, and attentively listened to the sermon. The people 
seeing this, threw themselves at the saint's feet, and 

humbly entreated his prayers and intercession, to avert 

7* 



66 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the arm of God, which was going to visit them for the 
neglect of his word, and of his servant. The saint, by 
preaching that whole lent, converted nearly the entire 
population ; so that there were not priests enough to 
hear the confessions of the numbers approaching the tri- 
bunal of penance. Priests were sent for from the neigh- 
bouring cities, and the people became reconciled to God 
through their agency. Nor would they ever- allow An- 
thony to leave them afterward, but prayed and entreated 
him to remain among them, which he did to the end of 
his mortal career. A no less surprising miracle than the 
one already related is the following : — In this his first 
mission, Anthony was wholly unacquainted with the 
Italian language, and therefore preached to the Paduans 
in Portuguese, his native language, which the latter un- 
derstood for Italian, and were surprised that a foreigner 
could have a greater command of it than they had them- 
selves. When, however, Anthony modestly made known 
how the affair actually stood, then their respect and es- 
teem for the holy man increased tenfold. He performed 
other innumerable miracles, curing the sick, giving sight 
to the blind, limbs to the limbless, children to the child- 
less, and teeth to the toothless ! He at last passed to 
receive the crown of glory, which his works so richly 
merited, full of the odour of sanctity. 

Such is the life of Anthony of Padua, the great idol of 
the Italians, and the fitting instrument to make a super- 
stitious people bear patiently the galling yoke of popish 
tyranny. Such are the actions, and such the marvellous 
works attributed to this Christian Juggernaut by popular 
superstition, excited by priestcraft. As great as the 
veneration is in which Vincent Ferreri is held at Valen- 
cia, greater by far is that in which Anthony is held in 
Padua, and indeed in every town and village of Italy 
which is so unfortunate as to be pestered with a convent 
of Franciscan friars. His name is given by parents to 
their new-born babes ; and that child is superstitiously 
supposed to be guarded, and protected from all sickness, 
and other evils attending the infant state, by the saint 
whose name it has the honour to bear. It is no uncom- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 67 

mon thing to find a whole family, and almost a whole 
village, with few exceptions, every individual of which' 
is named after this saint. Nor would it be any easy 
matter to distinguish them one from the other, were it 
not for the additional name of some minor saint, affixed 
or prefixed to the favoured one of Antonio. Thus one 
is called simply Antonio ; and for the most part this is 
given as if by right to the eldest child, if a male, and An- 
tonia, if a female. Then comes Antonio Francesco, Fran- 
cesco Antonio, &c, for the men, and Giovanna Antonia, or 
Antonia Vincenza for the women. In the city of Padua 
alone, it has been remarked, that three out of five of the 
inhabitants are baptized by the name of Antonio alone, 
or by some other name placed before or after it. Many 
churches are taken up altogether with his images, and 
those of the Madonna; and for one candle lighted in 
honour of God, there are thousands constantly kept burn- 
ing in honour of this idol. His altar is adorned with 
gold and precious stones, whilst that dedicated to Christ 
is adorned with cobwebs. The following hymn, com- 
posed in his honour, and sung before his image, will 
give the reader some idea of the worship and adoration 
paid to this deified monk. 

Si quseris miracula, 
Mors, error, calarnitas, 
Demon, lepra fugiunt, 
iEgri surgunt sani • 
Cedunt mare, vincula, 
Membra, resque perditaa 
Petunt et accipiunt 
Juvenes et cani 
Narrent hi qui testes fuerunt 
Dicant Paduani. 

The literal translation of the foregoing would be, " If 
thou seekest miracles, let those relate who witnessed 
them. Let the Paduans relate, how death, errors, and 
calamities retired before the presence of Anthony ; how 
devils and lepers flee from his power ; and how the sick 
arise from their beds of death, restored to health. Seas 
and bondage yield to his conquering hand, whilst young 



68 SIX YEARS IN THE 

and old look for and receive through his intercession 
their lost limbs." 

Innumerable are the miracles and extraordinary ex- 
ploits attributed by the breviary to every saint in the 
calendar. The miracles of Christ, and the actions of the 
apostles are nothing when compared to them, as if the 
breviary was expressly designed to take away the adora- 
tion due to the Creator, and bestow it upon the creature. 
One, like St. Francis de Paula, is remarkable for passing 
deep and rapid torrents, and oftentimes the sea itself, 
without the help of either boat or ship, these being things 
necessary only for the profanum vulgus — the herd of 
mankind — whilst the sanctified monk can at any time 
turn his mantle into a ferry-boat, and acting himself as 
pilot take his companions in his mantle-boat as pas- 
sengers. Another is famed for removing mountains by a 
single word ; as is related to have been done by Gregory 
Thaumaturgos, or the miracle-worker, when a huge 
mountain impeded the labours of the workmen employed 
by him in building a church. The saint, seeing that it 
would take up too much time and labour to remove the 
mountain in the ordinary way, ordered it to depart imme- 
diately from the place wherein nature had formed it, which 
order the mountain, obedient to the command of the holy 
bishop, immediately obeyed, moving in the sight of the 
assembled workmen to a distance of two miles from its 
former site.* Some other saint is famed for walking two 
miles with his head under his arm, after it had been 
severed from his body ; which is as probable as the story, 
believed by some of the Irish peasantry, of St. Patrick's 

* The above miracle will probably recall to the mind of the reader 
the well known story of Mahomet and the mountain. There is, 
however, this difference between the two stories : that Mahomet was 
obliged to go to his mountain, whereas Gregory's mountain was 
commanded to retire from him. The Arabian impostor, cunning as 
he was, had not half the invention of the Christian bishop, or rather, 
of his historians, who, when they attempt a miracle, perform it, if 
words and affirmation can do it. Indeed, the Turkish historian de- 
served the bastinado for being thus outdone in the marvellous by a 
Christian. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 69 

swimming across the Liffey with his head between his 
teeth !* 

The favours obtained by faithful believers on touching 
the bodies and relics of the saints, are also recounted by 
the breviary in classical Latin. Some bodies are stated 
to have continued in a state of incorruption for centuries 
others, to have emitted a sweet odour on being removed 
from the place they were buried in.t Thus the breviary 
tells us, that the tongue of St. Anthony of Padua (whose 
life has been already taken notice of) remains to this day 

* In the life of Saint Denis, as related by the breviary, we read, 
that " he was judge of the Areopagus at Athens, and that being con- 
verted to the Christian religion, he was made archbishop of Paris, 
where he suffered martyrdom, and walked two miles with his head in 
his hands ;" thus confounding the persons of Dionysius, the Areo- 
pagite, and of Saint Denis eveque de Paris, contrary to the united 
testimonies of historians, some of whom affirm, that Dionysius was 
never in France in his life, while others go still farther, and say, that 
he died a pagan, and that the books going under his name, as far as 
they relate to Christianity, are the inventions of more modern times. 
A young French lady being asked by her confessor, who was a Jesuit, 
if she believed that Saint Denis had walked two miles after his head 
was chopped off, she replied with a naivete peculiar to a French 
woman, " Oui, mon reverend pere, si vous etez certain, qu'il a fait 
le primier pas, pourquoi il ne coute que cela." (Yes, reverend 
father, if you are certain that he had taken the first step, for that is 
the only difficult one.) 

•j- The bodies of saints are generally removed after their canoniza- 
tion from the common cemetery, and deposited under an altar erected 
and dedicated in honour of them. So also a shrine was dedicated in 
honour of a pagan idol. The shrine of a modern Italian idol is filled 
with the votive offerings of those, who imagined that they obtained 
some relief in their necessities by praying to the god that inhabits it. 
If the skill of the surgeon, or chance, should have cured a broken 
limb, the cure is not attributed to either, but to the saint whose assist- 
ance was invoked. Horace somewhere mentions a custom of the 
ancient Romans, to hang up a " tabula votiva" for having obtained 
some imaginary help from one of their gods. In imitation of this 
custom, the modern Romans adorn the walls of a saint's shrine with 
silver and waxen legs, arms, eyes, crutches, chains — the offerings of 
those who had been cured or liberated from bondage through the 
intercession or agency of the saint to whom it is dedicated. If this 
be not giving praise, honour, and glory to the creature instead of the 
Creator, I do not know what is ! ! 



70 SIX YEARS IN THE 

incorrupt in the church of the Franciscans at Padua, 
though it had been buried with his body for more than one 
hundred years ; and that favours are granted, and miracles 
daily performed for the relief of those who devotedly 
worship it. Numerous examples are given of diseases 
cured, of. the dead brought back to life, and of limbs 
restored ; — all effects caused by having the afflicted 
brought in contact with the body or relic of some saint. 
The doctrine of purgatory is not lost sight of in the mean 
time. Souls delivered from the fire of purgatory are re- 
lated to have appeared to some one, and to have declared 
that they owed their deliverance to the intercession of 
some saint, or to the kindness of some friend, who paid 
for a mass, to be celebrated on their behalf at the altar 
dedicated to the particular worship of saint such-a-one, 
invoking at the same time the mediation, and pleading the 
merits of — not Christ, but of the deified idol to whom 
the altar had been dedicated. 

The breviary is in this way made the prompt-book, 
from which priests are supplied with the arguments 
adapted to the propagation of the soul-destroying tenets 
of a religion, which leaves the precepts and doctrines of 
the divine Founder of Christianity in the background, 
and supplies their place with the doctrines and inventions 
of men ; doctrines too, which, regarded even in a moral 
light, are by many degrees inferior to those delivered by 
pagan philosophers, deprived, as they were, of the light 
of revelation. Though the greater number of priests do 
not believe in the one millionth part of the gross absurdi- 
ties which they hold out to be believed by their deluded 
followers, yet all with one accord work together, the love 
of filthy lucre being the bond of union, for the purpose 
of establishing as essential doctrines of the Christian 
religion those very absurdities. In this they are assisted 
by the breviary, which seems as if expressly framed to 
be an auxiliary in their works of deception. The ex- 
tracts taken from it will, perhaps be thought by many 
too numerous ; but were they less in number, it might 
be supposed that a character was given it which it does 
not merit. Many hundreds of such can be found in it, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 71 

more ridiculous, if possible, than the few just given. 
Let these, however, suffice, and I trust that they will be 
enough to convince the most incredulous, that the breviary 
justly deserves the name of " impious, absurd, and 
ridiculous" and only fit to be laughed at, instead of be- 
ing seriously commented upon, had it not been tampering 
with the life-giving truths of the gospel. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Evils attending a monkish life — Novices kept in ignorance of the real 
state of a monk — Passions to which monks are subject — Hatred 
and anger — Ambition — Tragical story of two Tuscan monks — 
Method of conveying moral instruction — Narrative of an occur- 
rence said to have taken place in the Capuchin convent of Frascati 
— Why the Capuchins wear beards — The wood of the true 
cross. 

The year of novitiate is passed in the way I have been 
just describing. The novices are not, however, let into 
all the secrets of the order, till they learn them from their 
own observations, after profession. They are not, as I 
have already stated, allowed to have intercourse with the 
professed monks, until they are professed themselves. 
They therefore can form no judgment of the real feel- 
ings by which those professed are actuated, or of the 
degree of harmony and friendship existing among them. 
They cannot even suspect that those persons, who fare 
so composed in their manners, and so circumspect in 
their conduct in the presence of strangers, among which 
the novices are ranked; that those very persons could 
have minds glowing with the worst passions to which 
human nature is subject, and which very often get the 
better of that restraint, under which they are obliged by 
circumstances and their station in life to keep them. 
Hatred, envy, anger, ambition, lust, and avarice are the 
never-failing companions of a monkish life. Hatred and 
envy especially are passions which more generally pre- 
dominate in the mind of every individual monk. He 



72 SIX YEARS IN THE 

hates his fellow monk for enjoying more of tne confidence 
of the superior than himself, and envies him for being 
chosen to fill some situation of which he himself was 
ambitious. Jt has been remarked, that these two pas- 
sions, hatred and envy, are the cause of very great evils 
in monk-houses, and when given way to without restraint, 
are sometimes followed by tragical events ; which rarely 
arrive at publicity, lest the veneration in which the order 
is held by the people should be lessened, if they became 
aware, that those, whom they honour as gods, are ob- 
noxious to the same passions as agitate themselves. The 
belter informed class of people are, nevertheless, well 
aware of the existence of those evils in monk-houses, and 
seldom let an opportunity escape of mentioning them in 
public, when they think they can do so without danger to 
themselves. The monks, on the other hand, in order to 
maintain their influence, cry up all who are thus bold 
enough to give their opinion on monkery, as enemies of 
religion, and very charitably endeavour to bring them 
under the notice of the secular government, by represent- 
ing them as Carbonari f* thus making their zeal for the 

* Carbonari, Anglict, Colliers, is a name given to a society of men 
in Italy, who, compassionating the degraded state of their country, 
oppressed by priestcraft, monkery, and the bad government of petty 
princes, formed themselves into a body, and bound themselves by a 
vow, worthy of ancient Romans, to rescue their country from its mi- 
serable condition, at the risk of their own lives and properties. Truth 
obliges me to add, that many learned monks and secular priests, who 
esteemed the common good of greater importance than their private 
interests, were also members of this society. Three young men of 
noble families and respectable talents were beheaded at Rome under 
Leo XII., in 1826, on being convicted of Carbonarism. This society 
is not yet extinct, though it is strictly watched. We may hope yet 
to see Italy, through its exertions, restored to that rank among the 
nations of Europe, to which it is so justly entitled, and which it has 
lost only through the slavemaking tenets of popery. Italy alone should 
be enough to exemplify the practically evil effects of that religion, con- 
sidered only in a political light, and setting aside its erroneous doc- 
trines, relating to the service due from the creature to the Creator — a 
thing surely of far greater importance, as all must confess, who are 
fully aware of the infinite superiority of things eternal to things tem- 
poral. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 73 

Catholic religion a pretext for being revenged on their 
private enemies, who, it ought to be borne in mind, are 
their enemies only inasmuch as they themselves' are ini- 
mical to the general good of society and to the ' rules of 
a Christian life. 

A proverb frequently used by the Italians would make 
one suppose, that contentions among monks are better 
known to the public than monks themselves are aware 
of. In order to express a violent deadly hatred, they call 
it, " odio allfratesca" (hatred after the manner of monks 
or friars.) When this detestable, unchristian-like passion 
gains possession of a monk's mind, he lets slip no oppor- 
tunity of gratifying it. He endeavours to prejudice the 
superior and the other monks against the unfortunate 
object of it, either by malignant insinuations, cloaked 
under a zeal for the good of the order, or by calumniating 
him to others, or by openly accusing him of some crime 
either real or pretended. The other monk is not in the 
mean time passive. He, on his part, endeavours to in- 
jure his enemy also. He entertains the same degree of 
hatred that is entertained against him, and is hindered 
by no human or divine law to endeavour to be revenged ; 
always taking care that his desire of vengeance should 
not get the better of his prudence, for he is well aware 
that the commission of any thing which would be thought 
an offence against the order, would be only placing him- 
self at the mercy of his opponent, and afford him a cause 
for triumph. On this account, he takes especial care 
never to show any anger in the presence of strangers or 
of those who do not belong to the order, nor to reveal to 
any one outside the convent walls, nor even to his near- 
est relations, any thing connected with the trouble and 
vexation proceeding from the other's animosity, with 
which he is harassed. The secrets of the order are to be 
kept at all hazards ; and if a sense of duty be not suffi- 
cient to cause them to be kept, punishments are added, 
for the person that reveals them loses all hopes of ever 
arriving at any thing above a common friar ; and if he be 
a priest, he is suspended from celebrating mass, and sent 
to some desolate convent among the mountains, where he 

8 



74 SIX YEARS IN THE 

is kept for the remainder of his life, persecutes by his 
brethren, and cursing the day he first became a monk. 
The superior, seeing the danger which may oe appre- 
hended to accrue to the order from contentions and ani- 
mosities of this nature, if they should come to the ears of 
the public, interposes his authority, and fearing some fatal 
result, separates the combatants by sending them to dif- 
ferent convents, and thus brings about a cessation if hos- 
tilities. It does not always happen, however, that monk 
ish hatred is stifled by separating the parties. The fire 
may be buried for some time under the ashes, but there 
always remains sufficient to blaze up when more fuel is 
added : so contending monks, though separated for some 
years, never forget their old animosities, which are always 
sure to break out with renewed vigour when they again 
come in contact with each other. An example, which I 
shall take the liberty to lay before the reader in illustra- 
tion of the truth of this remark, came under my own ob- 
servation, whilst residing in the Capuchin convent at 
Florence. 

Two friars, one a native of Pisa, the other of Leghorn, 
were noted for a strong attachment to each other, which 
continued without intermission for a number of years. 
They were fellow novices, fellow students, ordained at the 
same time, and lived the greater part of their life in the same 
convent. It seemed impossible that any thing could hap- 
pen, which might be the cause of breaking through, or less- 
ening the affection and love they bore to each other. The 
event, however, proved how false were such appearances, 
and how weak is the tie of friendship, when tried by the test 
of jarring interests. Both had a desire of becoming supe- 
riors, and unfortunately both wished to be made superior 
of the same convent. Ambition is a powerful passion 
-,vhen it takes root in any mind, every thing being sa«;ri- 
bsx?\ for its gratification ; but ambition is doubly power- 
/*' whe*\ it takes up its abode in the mind oi* a monk, it 

(\g the only one that can be given way to, without 
running the risk of being disgraced. Caesar had never a 
greater desire to become the first man in Rome, than 
monks have of becoming guardians or provincials. All 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 75 

the other passions being considered as unlawful to be 
gratified, this one of ambition, which is considered as law- 
ful, acts upon the mind with a force equal to the whole. 
Our two friends canvassed, and sought to prepossess in 
tneir favour those upon whom the election depended, 
while each, to make sure of his own election, and forget- 
ful of their ancient friendship, did not scruple to calumni- 
ate and speak evil of his rival candidate. It happened, 
nowever, that neither was elected. Then began the re- 
crimination ; one accusing the other of a want of affection, 
and the other in turn accusing him of defamation, till 
from being intimate friends, they became dire foes, and 
let no opportunity escape by which they might injure 
each other. The contention excited at length the atten- 
tion of the superior, and to prevent evil consequences, 
they were separated, by being sent to different convents. 
Some years passed away after their separation, and it was 
supposed that time had healed the wound which ambition 
had given their mutual friendship, when they met toge- 
ther again in Florence. Their enmity then broke out 
anew ; and in a moment of ungovernable fury, one drew a 
knife and stabbed the other ; and then supposing he had 
killed him, flew to thje cloister, where there was a deep 
well, or reservoir of water, into which he plunged.* His 
lifeless body was drawn out a few hours afterward. He 
that was stabbed survived the wound, but died soon after 
of a broken heart ; persecuted by the other friars for hav- 
ing been the cause of the other's destroying himself. It 
was given out in the convent, that the unfortunate self- 
murderer was deranged when he committed the rash deed, 
and therefore his body was buried with the accustomed 
honours. Every monk was commanded under pain of 
disobedience never to speak on the subject, nor even to 
think upon it, if possible. Thus ended this monkish 

* In the neighbourhood of Florence there is a great scare 'f-y of 
water. Reservoirs are prepared in every palace and convent It save 
the rain-water, which is done by means of pipes fitted to the i* * ?.* of 
the roofs, which convey the water into the reservoirs. TLesrt are 
luiue V6ry deep, in order to hold sufficient for summer use 



76 SIX YEARS IN THE 

strife, and so fatally, that under an able hand it would 
make a good subject for a tragedy. 

The novices have no suspicion that such scenes as these 
related can possibly find a place among men who seem 
exempt, judging from outward appearances, from the 
ordinary frailties of human nature. They are, neverthe- 
less, admonished not to give way to anger or hatred; 
and the admonition, in order to make a more lasting im- 
pression, is conveyed by some example, which having 
its foundation in truth is wound up by calling in the 
agency of departed spirits — the usual mode of imparting 
moral instruction practised by monks. I recollect one 
of those examples, and in order to give the reader some 
idea of monkish instruction, I shall relate it here. 

In the convent of the Capuchins at Frascati, there is 
a large room on the ground-floor, which is now used as 
a lumber-room for old chairs, tables, images, pictures, 
angels, and all the other paraphernalia and apparatus 
which are used for decorating a popish church on solemn 
occasions. A stranger, upon seeing the confused medley 
of paste-board saints, half-daubed pictures, and stucco 
images, with which this room is thronged, would not im- 
mediately be able to decide what use they could possibly 
be converted to, and would, after some reflection, come 
to the conclusion that they belonged to the manager of 
some theatre, or that they are a collection of idols col- 
lected by some merchant for the East India market. In 
the middle of the room there is a circular mark of about 
four feet in diameter, which, from its being two or three 
inches below the level of the floor, is easily taken notice 
of. The tradition connected with this spot forms the 
example by which novices are admonished to take care 
that hatred never become master of their better feelings. 
This room was the refectory, and continued to be used 
as such for many years after the building of the convent. 
The reason why it is no longer used for this purpose is 
stated to be the following : — There lived in the convent, 
some hundred years ago, two monks who entertained a 
deadly hatred for each other. This hatred continued, 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 77 

without any intermission, until »ne of them was on the 
point of being called away from this world. On his 
death-bed he expressed a desire to be reconciled to his 
enemy, and begged the superior to call him to his room 
for that purpose. The other at first refused to go ; but 
the commands of the superior, united to his representa- 
tions, at last prevailed. He approached his dying enemy, 
and granted him apparently his forgiveness, and was 
seemingly reconciled to him ; but, while in the act of 
leaving the room, he whispered to one of the other monks 
that, " Because he was dying now, he sought his par- 
don ; whereas, while in health, he had let slip no oppor- 
tunity to do him injury ;" which words, being overheard 
by the dying man, caused him to go into so great a rage, 
that he expired while endeavouring to utter curses and 
maledictions against his inveterate enemy. Some days 
after his death, as the monks were assembled to dinner 
in the refectory, the conversation turned upon the un- 
happy death of their defunct brother. One represented 
to the superior the necessity of having a number of 
masses celebrated for the repose of his soul ; while 
another argued, that there was no use in throwing 
away masses on one who, in all probability, was howl- 
ing in the regions of the damned. The conversation 
was carried on in this way for some time, when lo ! 
the subject of it himself made his appearance to the 
astonished and trembling monks, encompassed with 
flames of fire, and heavily laden with fiery chains. Ad- 
dressing the superior, he said, " That he was confined in 
the regions of the wicked for all eternity, on account of 
his dying in anger with his brother." Then, turning 
toward his enemy, who stood pale and trembling in his 
presence, he roared out with a voice of thunder, mixed 
with a hellish laugh, " Thou wretch ! thou, who hast 
been the cause of my damnation, prepare thyself to ac- 
company me, for that I might bring thee with me have I 
obtained permission to leave my place of torment lor a 
few moments. Come, then, and suffer with me, as the 
pleasure of seeing thee suffer is the only one I can have 
for all eternity." Thus saying, he took hold of him bv 



78 SIX TEARS IN THE 

the beard,* and dragged him into the middle of the re- 
fectory, where, the ground opening under them, both 
disappeared, leaving the other monks almost dead with 
fear and astonishment, and nearly suffocated from the 
stench with which the refectory was filled. The open- 
ing left after their descent could not be filled up, although 
many horses were employed for some days in bringing 
rubbish to throw into it ; but in vain, till a part of the 
true cross, preserved in the cathedral church at Frascati, 
was brought to the convent, accompanied by the bishop 
and clergy in procession, and singing the litany of the 
Blessed Virgin, which being held over the vacuum, the 
earth closed of its own accord with the same celerity it 
had before opened. A new refectory was then built in 
another part of the convent, and the old one converted 
into a lumber-room, as has been already related. 

The foregoing occurrence, just as I have related it, is 
registered in the convent books, and deposited in the 
archives of the order, whence it has been drawn forth to 
serve as an example to future monks of the evil conse- 
quences attending anger and hatred. The reader may 
make his own reflections upon it, and believe it, or not, 
as he may feel inclined. The fundamental parts are 
probably true, while the marvellous had been added, to 
attract greater devotion toward the wood of the cross, 
and to prove, by an alleged miracle, the great respect 
and adoration which should be paid to that so called holy 
relic. But of this more will be said under the head of 
"relics." 

* The Capuchins wear beards, in imitation of their founder, St. 
Francis, who is represented with a long carroty beard, in pictures of 
him painted by order of the Capuchins. The Observants, on the 
contrary, another branch of the Franciscans, wear no beards, and 
therefore paint the same saint without any. This difference has been 
the cause of great disturbance between these two branches of the 
order. Was it not rather in imitation of the ancient Magi, that the 
Capuchins determined upon wearing their beards 1 Very probably 
it was ; for we see, from the history of all ages, that impostors are 
fond of having some distinctive mark, either in dress or in the habit 
of the body, by which they may attract the notice of the dupes upon 
whom they design to practise their impositions. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 79 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Termination of novitiate — Votes of the other monks required before 
the novice can be admitted to profession — Ceremonies used at the 
profession of a monk — The monastic vows — Good and bad monks 
— Story of a bad monk — Monkish persecutions — The bad monk's 
flight from Turin — How treated by the general at Rome — His 
secularization — Expenses incurred before he could obtain it — The 
bad monk turned into a zealous preacher of the gospel — Classifi- 
cation of monks. 

The year of novitiate being expired, the novice is 
asked, by the superior, if he be desirous of profession, 
that is, if he wish to take the solemn vows of the order. 
The votes of the other friars are taken, in the mean time, 
in private ; and if the novice have a majority of them in 
his favour, it is optional with him to profess or not. 
If, on the other hand, he have not the majority of votes, 
he is dismissed without profession. This may also 
be the reason that novices are kept separate from the 
other monks during the year of novitiate, because it is 
feared that, upon leaving the order, either at their own 
desire, because unwilling to make their profession, or 
being expelled, and therefore not allowed to make it, they 
might be induced, if they had it in their power, to make 
known to the world the lives and practices of monks as 
they really are — not as they are represented — and thereby 
injure the order, and lessen it in the opinion of the pub- 
lic. They are, therefore, strictly confined to their own 
separate part of the convent till after their profession ; 
because then, and not before, the order has power over 
them, and can punish them, and take measures to pre- 
vent their tattling the secrets of the order, if so they 
should be inclined. Profession delivers the monk, in 
every Roman Catholic country, to the entire manage- 
ment of his superior ; there is no other tribunal to ap- 
peal to, if he be oppressed ; the superior can imprison, 



80 SIX YEARS IN THE 

and do what he pleases with him, for the remainder of 
his life. 

Very few voluntarily refuse profession, even though 
they might not like the life of a monk ; being afraid of 
incurring the indignation of their families, or of being 
ridiculed by their acquaintances. Some without a grain 
of vocation are most desirous of it, because they well 
know, that they shall enjoy more liberty then, than when 
they were simple novices. Many are obliged to return 
to their secular pursuits, not having had — fortunately 
enough for themselves — the majority of the votes in 
their favour. If, however, they should wish to remain for 
another year in the capacity of simple novices, they are 
sometimes allowed to do so ; and at the expiration of that 
time, they are solemnly professed, if they have the ma- 
jority of votes. Cases of this kind, however, seldom 
occur. As for myself, I was so unfortunate (for misfor- 
tune it certainly was, though I did not think so at the 
time) as to have the votes of nearly the whole com- 
munity in my favour, and therefore on answering in the 
affirmative to the superior's question of "whether I was 
desirous of making a solemn profession ?" there was 
nothing to prevent me from binding myself for ever to a 
state of life and to the practice of a religion which, on 
closer and fuller examination, I was led to consider as 
sinful and erroneous. I had not, when I gave my assent 
to be professed, any cause to dislike the kind of life I had 
embraced, nor the religion I was on the point of becom- 
ing so closely connected with. My idea of a monkish 
life was formed from what I had seen during the time I 
had remained a novice, and being by nature of a retired 
disposition, such a manner of life was pleasing to me. I 
little suspected at that time that I had more to learn than 
I was aware of, in order to become a good monk ; that is 
— a something between a Christian and an idolater, as 
shall be fully proved in another place. 

As for the Roman Catholic religion in itself I could not 
possibly have any dislike to it at that time, for, first, I did 
not understand it, and therefore could not judge whether 
it were true or false ; again, it was the religion in which 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 81 

I was educated, and with which were blended my fondest 
and earliest recollections ; and it is well known, that the 
prejudices of education and of early habits are not worn 
away in an instant. Besides, I had never, though born in 
a Protestant country, seen Christianity under any other 
aspect, than as she appears in the church of Rome. I 
had no friend to direct me to " search the Scriptures" 
for light, or to give me a knowledge of vital godliness. 
My ideas were popish, my manners were popish, my 
whole soul and body, in fine, were entirely at the pope's 
service, nor would I have thought it too much, so great 
was my zeal for popery at that time, to lay down my life 
in defence of his authority. So far, therefore, from doubt- 
ing of the truth of any of the absurd doctrines of Roman- 
ism, I considered all and every one of them, without any 
farther examination, as the genuine dictates of the Holy 
Spirit, and would as soon be led into the belief of my 
own non-existence, as to that of the pope's establishing 
an erroneous doctrine for an article of the Christian faith. 
During the year of my novitiate, however, I sometimes 
was tempted to consider the stories of the breviary as 
rather insulting to human reason, and to think that the 
marvellous tales, under which my master-novice conveyed 
his instructions, were a little out of the way of common 
sense ; but all such thoughts I resisted as temptations of 
the devil, and therefore mortal sins, if not fought against. 
I always, in my private confessions to the superior, ac- 
cused myself of such doubts as these, and he, to be sure, 
knew how to work on my mind, already weakened by su- 
perstition, so as to bring it entirely under his own control ; 
and even to make me wish, that the things proposed to 
my belief were ten times more incredible, that I might 
have the more merit in believing them. I was divested 
altogether of the faculty of judging and thinking for my- 
self, and so passive was the submission I made of myself 
into the hands of others, that I verily believe, they might 
have persuaded me with the same degree of ease to offer 
incense at the shrine of an Egyptian crocodile, as to pour 
forth my Jive Marias before the image of a Madonna — 
as absurd, though not altogether so revolting a way of 



82 SIX YEARS IN THE 

paying" homage to the Supreme Being, ft may then be 
supposed that I was in no state of mind to withhold my 
consent from what I was expected to do at the expiration 
of the year's novitiate ; and when asked by the superior, 
I was greatly rejoiced, and immediately consented to bind 
myself by a solemn vow to adhere till death to the profes- 
sion of a monk. 

The ceremonies used at the profession of a novice are 
nearly similar to those practised at his taking the habit. 
The superior, as usual, is the principal actor. He cele- 
brates the mass and gives the communion to the novice, 
before he pronounces his vows. After the mass is finish- 
ed, he ascends the steps of the altar, where sitting in a 
chair of state, set apart designedly for ecclesiastical cere- 
monies, he receives the hands of the novice within his 
own, while the latter in a loud voice pronounces distinct- 
ly the following vow : — " Io, fra N , faccio voto e 

prometto al Dio Onnipotente, alia beata Maria sempre 
Vergine, ai beati apostoli Pietro e Paulo, al nostro beato 
padre Francesco, a tutti li santi del cielo ed a te, padre, 
tutto il tempo della vita mia osservare la regola dei Frati 
Minori, dal Signor Onorio Papa confermata, vivendo in 
ubbedienza, senza proprio, ed in castita. (I, brother 

N , make a vow, and promise to Almighty God ; to 

the blessed Mary ever Virgin ; to the blessed apostles 
Peter and Paul ; to our blessed father Francis ; to all 
the saints of heaven, and to thee> O father, to observe, 
during my whole life, the rule of the Minor Friars, by our 
Lord Pope Honorius confirmed ; and to live in obedience, 
in poverty, and in chastity.) The superior then says, 
still keeping the novice's hands enclosed in his own : — 
Ed io, da parte di Dio, se queste cose osserverai, ti 
prometto la vita eterna." (And I, on the part of God, 
promise thee eternal life, if thou wilt keep these pro- 
mises.) The other monks answer, " Amen." The new 
professed after this receives the kiss of peace from his 
brethren, whilst the choir is chanting the psalm, " Ecce 
quam bonum, et quam jucundum, habitare, fratres, in 
unum." (How good and pleasant it is, brethren, to live 
together.) The day of profession, like that of taking the 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 83 

habit, is observed as a festival by the monks ; and many 
friends being invited to a sumptuous entertainment, it 
passes over in the same way as the latter, amidst mirth 
and jollity, their usual method of showing forth gladness 
on extraordinary occasions ; though it may be presumed, 
that the sight of a good dinner has as much tendency, 
perhaps more, to excite their mirth, as the addition of a 
new member to their community. 

The day of profession is an era in the life of a monk 
from which he may date either the happiness or misery 
of his future life ; understanding for the moment happi- 
ness and misery in the sense of those, who place it in 
the enjoyment or non-enjoyment of the things of this 
world. If he be a good monk ; that is, if he forget all 
the duties which he owes to society ; if he exert all his 
powers and talents to promote one great object — the good 
of the order ; if, in order to more speedily arrive at this 
end, he endeavour, pro virili, to brutalize the minds of 
the people by teaching them the fables and other mon- 
strous absurdities invented by Rome to maintain her 
sway over them, if he do all these things, he may be 
sure of being esteemed a good and faithful monk, and 
may reasonably expect to lead a happy life, as far as 
worldly honours and ecclesiastical dignities can make it so. 
If, on the other hand, he be troubled with a rather deli- 
cate conscience ; that is, if he dare examine for himself, 
whether the things he is commanded to do for the good 
of the order be strictly just ; or if, on becoming better 
acquainted with it, he refuse to exert himself to the utmost 
for its advantage ; if in his sermons he manifest a greater 
zeal for bringing sinners to repentance, than in making 
panegyrics on saints ; if he preach Christ and him cru- 
cified as the sinner's hope, instead of directing him to the 
intercession of the Madonna, St. Francis, or of some 
other saint ; if, in fine, he act in this guise, it is more 
than probable, nay, it is an absolute certainty, that his 
life will be rendered miserable ; he will be treated as a 
heretic, as one unfaithful to his vows, and as one who 
considers the good of the order of no consequence, and 
therefore necessarily a bad monk. He will be persecuted 



84 SIX YEARS IN THE 

by his fellow monks, his actions and words will be 
strictly watched, in order to find a pretext for suspending 
him from his clerical functions : this pretext, because de- 
sired, will be soon found, and then he is transported from 
convent to convent, or exiled to some remote part of the 
province, where he will be confined to the bounds of the 
cloister, or, at least, to the garden, detested by all and 
esteemed by none. His life will thus pass away between 
vexations and oppressions, and while cursing his unfor- 
tunate condition, he will date his misery from the day he 
first forfeited his liberty at the foot of the altar, when 
making a solemn vow to observe things, which, he is 
convinced by farther examination, are in themselves 
sinful, because contrary to the precepts of the gospel, 
and at variance with the institutes by which society is 
kept together. 

The foregoing is a true picture, drawn from experience, 
of the life of a good and bad monk. Heretics, I fear, 
will regard the latter — God help their judgment! — as 
more deserving the epithet of "good" than the former. 
ConceclOy be it granted, but then "good" should not be 
coupled with the substantive " monk" for, as metaphysi- 
cians say " omne ens est bonum quoad se" (every being 
is good as to itself,) so also, the latter may be good 
"quoad hominem" but bad, very bad "quoad ens" 
that is, as to his profession of a monk. But, metaphy- 
sical reasoning apart, it is evident, that a good monk 
means one of the genus " homo" who is half-Christian 
and whole-idolater, (excuse the bull,) who idolizes his 
order, and fixes all his hopes of salvation in the merits to 
be acquired by benefiting it ; who stops at nothing to at- 
tain that end ; and who, if Christ and his religion should 
at any time have a place in his thoughts, regards them as 
things of secondary consideration, and to be placed next 
in rank, or at farthest on a par with Francis and his rule.* 

* The above will, perhaps, be considered by many as amplification ; 
thinking it impossible, that any body of men, who go under the name 
of Christians, could, whatever be the errors of their doctrines, so far 
forget themselves as to rank Christ and his gospel with their own in- 
ventions. But let those who argue thus, examine the page of history, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 85 

A. bad monk, on the other hand — and would to God, 
there were more of such monks — is he, who not being 
wholly dead to all sense of religion, wishes to act con- 
scientiously toward God and toward his fellow men, 
leaving to others the office of benefiting the order ; espe- 
cially when that cannot be done without trampling under 
foot the duties he owes to God and to society. He con- 
siders his obligations to the latter of far greater moment 
than those he is under to his order, and therefore endea- 
vours to fulfil them, though at the same time he is injur- 
ing the interests of the former ; for the particular interest 
of his order seldom or never can be promoted but at the 
expense and subversion of society and of religion. Who 
then would hesitate to choose between serving God, by 
executing His commands, relative to the duties due to 

•where they will find recorded the diabolical, enthusiastic frenzy of the 
Franciscans of the fourteenth century, who impiously maintained 
that the founder of their order was a second Christ, in all respects 
similar to the first ; and that their institutions and discipline were 
the true gospel of Jesus. History also informs us, that a Franciscan 
monk of the name of Albizi, a native of Pisa, published a book in 
1383, — and with the applause and permission of his order too, re- 
member, — whereby he compares Saint Francis, that madman and im- 
postor, with Jesus Christ, the Lord and giver of life ; and that farrago 
of absurdities — the rale of St. Francis — with the Christian's treasure, 
the holy gospels themselves! ! — But why should we make so great 
a wonder of simple theories, when we are so indifferent to the practice 
of them, placed before our eyes daily 1 Do we not see Christ and 
his atonement continually and every hour postponed to human inven- 
tions, even in this very country, where the gospel is said to triumph 1 
To what else do all the anti-scriptural tenets of popery tend, than to 
draw off the attention of Christians from the all-sufficient atonement 
of Christ, in order to fix it upon something else — to fix it upon the 
adoration of the creature, instead of the Creator — by which the 
inventors of such tenets are benefited, though at the expense of the 
souls of those committed to their charge 1 Yet people, who would 
be startled at the simple theory, pass over, as trifles, practices, hideous 
practices of this nature ; people pass them over as things too common 
to be any longer wondered at, or even worthy of remark ; and cha- 
ritably doubt, whether such abuses be not rather the effects of unde- 
signed corruption than of any fixed theory. — Indeed, it is to be fear- 
ed, that charity is but too often another name for indifference for the 
truth, as it is in Jesus. 

9 



86 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Himself and to His other creatures ; and serving Mam- 
mon, by providing for the interests of Mammon. This 
hesitation, however, in choice is made by the good monk ; 
or rather the service of Mammon is chosen without any 
hesitation ; while the bad monk chooses the service of 
his Creator, and therefore is characterized by the other 
with the epithet of "bad," and unfaithful to his vows. 

The story of a young man, who was for many years 
the victim of monkish persecutions, and with whom I 
had a short acquaintance before his escape from the iron 
grasp of monachism, has in it something so appropriate 
to the present subject, that I cannot refrain from relating 
it. He was a native of Chambery, the capital of Savoy. 
At the agfe of sixteen, he crossed the Alps and went to 
Turin, where he embraced the monastic life under the 
rule of St. Francis. He passed through the year of pro- 
bation without having had any difficulty thrown in his 
way by which he could be deterred from continuing in 
that state, and at the expiration of the accustomed time, 
he was solemnly professed. He then began the study of 
philosophy, and although the course of metaphysics — 
that part of philosophy, most studied by the monks, be- 
cause the most incomprehensible — which he was obliged 
to read, is carefully adapted to substantiate the doctrines 
of the Romish church ; he found, notwithstanding, his 
belief, not only in that church, but also in Christianity 
itself, weakened by making use of his reasoning powers. 
It is true, he knew Christianity only in the corrupt 
form under which it appears in the church of Rome : he 
was wholly ignorant of Bible Christianity, and therefore 
more worthy of excuse on that account ; especially when 
he had no one to direct him to the fountain of life. The 
poison of infidelity stole imperceptibly over his mind, 
and he had scarcely finished his course of philosophy 
before he found himself a confirmed skeptic. He grew 
lukewarm in his belief of the ridiculous doctrines of 
Romanism, and however his station in life obliged him to 
conceal it, he secretly laughed at the foolish inventions 
of that church. The study of popish theology — and in- 
deed it deserves the name of popish rather than that of 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 87 

Christian — only directed his unbelief into another chan- 
nel ; for it led him to see, though indistinctly, that there 
was some foundation for Christianity, but that it was cor- 
rupted by those who had the government of Christ's 
church in their hands. This he learned, partly from the 
objections made to the innovations of the church of Rome 
by scriptural Christians, and which are set down in the 
School Theology in order to be answered ; and partly 
from the detached portions of Scripture, which are scat- 
tered up and down in the breviary. 

He now began to pant after the liberty of worshipping 
God according to the dictates of his conscience ; but 
alas ! he was bound, and in the chains of monastic slave- 
ry, which were more tolerable to him while he was an 
infidel, than now, when he saw the truth and could not 
embrace it. He was ordained in the mean time, and sent 
to preach some time after, to a town on the Alps, called 
Susa. Here he endeavoured to preach Christ and him 
crucified to the people, instead of enforcing devotion to 
the Madonna. On being requested by the parish priest 
to preach a panegyric in honour of the patron saint of 
the town, he could not refuse ; but acquitted himself in 
so awkward a manner, and in so very few words, changing 
his discourse to his favourite theme of redemption through 
Christ, that he incurred the displeasure of the priest, who 
boldly accused him of heresy. The same priest imme- 
diately wrote to his superior in Turin, requesting that he 
might be removed ; and giving his reasons for the request. 
He was accordingly recalled. Upon his arrival at Turin 
he was summoned before a chapter of his order, to give 
an account of his conduct. He endeavoured to excul- 
pate himself as well as he could ; simply stating facts as 
they were. When asked why he had not preached the 
panegyric, as he was requested to do by the parish priest ; 
he replied, that he was unacquainted with the life of the 
patron saint, and therefore had no materials wherewith 
to compose one ; and that his conscience would not per- 
mit him to draw from his own imagination — the general 
plan adopted by those who preach panegyrics on saints. 
This excuse was deemed insufficient, and he was there- 



88 SIX YEARS IN THE 

fore formally suspended from the office of preaching, 
as being a person suspected of unsound doctrines. 

Now began his life of misery. Every action, every 
word of his was strictly watched. He was sent from 
convent to convent, through almost every part of the 
province, and could find no place wherein he could get 
a moment's repose from the persecutions of his brethren. 
He was looked upon by all as one who was a disgrace 
to their order, and who was unwilling to labour for its 
advantages. At length, tired out and harassed from such 
unrelenting persecutions, he determined upon escaping 
to Rome, in order to lay his case before the general of 
the order. If he stirred one step without a written leave 
from his local superior, he would be considered by the 
rules of the order an apostate ; and punished as such 
accordingly. He, nevertheless, although well aware of 
the existence of such a law, chose rather to run the risk 
than be any longer exposed to the unremitting persecu- 
tion of his adversaries. Upon his arrival at Rome, he 
was forthwith imprisoned by order of the general ; the 
superior at Turin having written before him for that pur- 
pose, stating his suspicions that he was not a person of 
sound Roman Catholic doctrines. He was now sus- 
pended from celebrating mass, and kept a close prisoner 
for three months, while in the mean time his family was 
spending money in petitioning the pope to have his case 
investigated. When these petitions on the part of his 
friends came to the knowledge of the general, they only 
served to increase the rigour with which the unfortunate 
young man was treated ; for nothing is thought so crimi- 
nal in a monk as to appeal to another tribunal from that 
of his own order. Being at last, through the interest of 
a cardinal, who had a friendship for his family, permitted 
to plead his own cause, he ably and forcibly exposed to 
the ecclesiastical court the wrongs and injuries which 
had been done him, and the absolute necessity he was 
under of leaving Turin, even at the hazard of being 
thought an apostate ; because he could no longer bear with 
the unchristian treatment and violent persecutions with 
which he was pursued by his brother monks. He con- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 89 

eluded his address by entreating the court for permission 
to supplicate the pope for the purpose of obtaining a dis- 
pensation from his vows, and of being permitted to leave 
the order altogether; after having obtained letters of 
secularization* from his holiness. His request was 
granted, though not without experiencing some difficulty, 
and after his being kept three months longer in prison, 
(in all six months,) and after his friends had spent more 
than eight hundred Roman scudi (about eight hundred and 
fifty American dollars) in petitioning the papal court. He 
retired after his release to his native town of Chambery, 
whence, as I afterward heard, he passed into Switzer- 
land, where he now remains, a minister of the reformed 
church and a faithful preacher of the gospel. The latter 
part of his story I have learned some time since from an 
Irish gentleman who spent some years in Switzerland, 
and who was acquainted with him there. He describes 
him as a zealous and pious Christian, and as one who is 
a living example of the power of divine grace and of the 
various means used by God to bring his own to a closer 
union with himself. 

The foregoing story may give the reader some idea of 
the hardship and misery to which a monk reduces him- 
self, who wishes to do his duty toward God and toward 
his fellow men. If an enlightened mind, assisted by the 
divine influence, should show him the errors of the reli- 
gion of which he is a member and minister ; and if his 
conscience should afterward prevent him from being sub- 
servient to the propagation of error, he may expect to 
be treated as rigorously, and suffer the same hardships, 
as the subject of the foregoing narrative. Should he re- 

* Secularization means a brief granted by the pope to a monk, 
whereby he is permitted to leave his order, and live as a secular priest 
under the obedience of a bishop. This is with great difficulty 
obtained, and is always attended with great expense ; money being 
necessary to bribe the different officers who surround the papal 
throne, and who consider themselves entitled to a share of the plun- 
der with which his holiness fills his coffers. The income derived by 
the court of Rome from the sale of briefs, bulls, and dispensations is 
enormous. — But of this, more in another place. 

9* 



90 SIX YEARS IN THE 

fuse to fulfil the wishes of the superior, and be backward 
in working for the good of the order, because he regards 
the means of benefiting it as injurious to his neighbour, 
and offensive to God ; he is then persecuted, imprisoned, 
and calumniated ; he obtains the name of a bad monk, 
and is set down by his fellow monks as one who had 
broken his vows, and who dares to set up his own judg- 
ment in opposition to the will of those to whom he had 
promised implicit obedience, when he made his solemn 
profession at the foot of the altar. Very few, it must be 
confessed, are of this description. Some, perhaps, who 
see the errors in which they live, are careless in correct- 
ing them, and do not wish to bring themselves into diffi- 
culties. Some there are who see the errors of their 
ways, also, but are very far from believing in Christianity 
under any form ; they therefore conform themselves out- 
wardly to the state of a monk, and find themselves the 
gainers by it ; for from this class the superiors are chosen. 
Others again, whom we shall distinguish by the name of 
the brute creation of monkery, can be found, who are 
too ignorant to discover error, and therefore swallow 
every doctrine, which is proposed to their belief, - with 
the greatest avidity. These obey their superiors in 
every thing, and stop at nothing, be it ever so contrary 
to common honesty, when their commands and the good 
of the order push them on. From this class, the saints 
are manufactured. The fourth class is composed of 
those whom we have already distinguished by the name 
of " bad monks" and whose description has been given 
more fully in the beginning of this chapter. Those who 
see their errors, but are cold in correcting them, would 
probably make good Christians in a free country, where 
they might have the liberty of choosing for themselves ; 
but while they live under papal bondage, there is but 
little hbpe of their ever emerging from the sink of indif- 
ference. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 91 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Convents of study — The employment, in which those monks who 
are void of talents are engaged — Monastic studies — Logic — Me- 
taphysics — Its use in supporting popish doctrines — Dogmatic theo- 
logy — Its evil tendency — Mutilation of Scripture — Purgatory — 
Popish theologians — Polemical divinity — Character of popish 
polemics — How they excuse themselves — Moral theology — Auri- 
cular confession — Its instrumentality in the support of priestcraft. 

The young monk is immediately sent away after pro- 
fession, from the convent in which he passed his novi- 
tiate, or year of probation, and placed in another, which 
is called a convent of study — in Italian " convento di 
studio." There are in each province* many convents 
of this kind, situated for the most part in fertile and rich 
sections of the country. There are also various classes 
of convents for study. One convent is fitted up for the 
study of philosophy ; another for that of dogmatic the- 
ology*,* another again for the study of moral theology. 
These classes are again subdivided into others : some 
are set apart for the education of those young monks, 
who were remarked during the year of probation to be 
possessed of talents superior to their fellow novices ; 
some others are chosen for those, who, though not hav- 
ing very brilliant talents, are, nevertheless, likely to be 
of advantage to the order, as executioners of the plans 
laid down by those who are gifted with superior capa- 
city. There are also other convents, in which the herd 
of monks ; i. e. those we have distinguished by the 
appellation of " the brute creation of monkery" — are 
huddled together. These monks are scarcely above the 

* It should have been before remarked, that, according to monkish 
geography, a province is that portion of a country which is under 
the control, as to monastic affairs, of a certain superior called " Pro- 
vincial" Every order has its own provincial, and therefore there 
a^ as many provincials as orders in a province. The pope's domi- 
i us in Italy comprise four monastic provinces. 



92 9IX YEARS IN THE 

level of brutes in their intellectual powers, and are 
chiefly employed — for they are unfit for any thing else — « 
in mumbling over offices, and in repeating Ave Marias 
before the image of a Madonna. They are, however, 
while young, sent to a separate convent, where they are 
taught to write their own language grammatically, though 
but few have talents enough to succeed even in that ; 
and where they are taught to acquire a smattering of 
Latin, by translating into barbarous Italian the council of 
Trent, the general school-book of this class, because 
classical Latin is too difficult for them. They are then, 
after being a little humanized by instruction, scattered 
through the other convents of the province, in order to 
serve as a cloak for the conduct of those of their breth- 
ren, whose talents and understanding do not allow them 
to be so beastly devout. These are held in great esteem 
by the common people, for they have always in readi- 
ness some marvellous tale, or some miracle to relate 
to them, by which they increase their love and respect 
for the order. After death a great many of them 
are enrolled in the catalogue of saints — thus verifying* 
the proverb " ignorance is the mother of devotion," by 
deifying after death men who, while living, were not a 
hair's breadth above their fellow creatures, the brutes, in 
intellectual capacity. 

As for myself, I was sent, after profession, to Rome, and 
placed under the tuition of a professor, who was esteem- 
ed the most learned man of the order at that time. And 
here, it will not be thought, I hope, foreign to the present 
subject, if I give a succinct account of monastic studies, 
and of the manner in which such studies are conducted. 
I give it the more willingly, because it may be of use to 
do away with the erroneous notions of some, who are 
loud in their praises of the great learning and talents which 
they imagine — and it is pure imagination — can be found 
within the walls of a convent. The account is drawn 
from my own experience, and from observations made 
during the time I remained in the monastic state. 

Logic is the first branch of knowledge to which a 
monk applies himself, on commencing his preparations 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 93 

for fulfilling the duties which are afterward to devolve 
upon him in the course of his clerical career. On this, 
indeed, his future progress in the other studies chiefly 
depend, for they are all carried on in the old, scholastic, 
syllogistical method. He is supposed to have a perfect 
knowledge of the Latin classics before entering the order; 
though such a supposition doe^ not always correspond 
with truth. Many pass through the examination, usually 
required before being received into the order, more by 
chance, and the partiality of the examiners, than on 
account of any perfect knowledge they possess of the 
things in which they are examined. Those, however, 
who are smuggled into the order in this way, usually 
take their place among the herd I have before described 
The treatise on logic, which is used in monkish schools, 
is always in Latin. It is generally the composition of 
some monk, and is delivered in a clear, methodical style, 
and very easy to be understood — even by those of mode- 
rate capacities. The part which is most dwelt upon, 
is that wherein rules are laid down for arguing syllogis- 
tically. Indeed the whole treatise is manifestly designed 
as a key, with which to open the abstruse and metaphy- 
sical reasoning of the schoolmen, Thomas Aquinas, Duns 
Scotus, Bonaventure, and such like. Besides the simple 
rules, the students are also taught the best manner of 
putting them in practice, by holding frequent disputations 
among themselves ; and he is thought the best logician 
who can bring his opponent to give assent to a proposi- 
tion manifestly erroneous, or who can satisfactorily prove 
that two contradictory propositions can be both true at 
one and the same time. 

After having spent a considerable time and much 
labour in becoming master of the various kinds of argu- 
ments, and in reducing them to practice by continual 
exercise among themselves ; the next thing to which 
their attention is directed, is the study of metaphysics. 
In this also much time is spent, for metaphysics is a 
species of knowledge held in great repute among monks, 
and it requires a long time, and great application, to get 
even a partial knowledge of the subtleties, the distinc- 



94 SIX YEARS IN THE 

tions, the sub-distinctions, and. divisions, which are 
almost innumerable in this abstruse science, rendered 
still more abstruse by the obscurity in which it is en- 
veloped by the imaginations — any thing but clear — of 
those who wrote upon it. Treatises and volumes are 
written upon things which, when fully discussed, leave 
the reader no wiser than before ; nor would it be of any 
importance, either to religion or society, whether the 
same things were ever thought upon or not, or whether 
they should be one way rather than in another. Thus, 
a folio volume — yes, a huge folio ! — has been written by 
some idle monk, who had nothing else to do, upon the 
questions, " whether nothing was created?" or " whether 
God, omnipotent as he is, could, with all his unlimited 
power, create nothing?" Nor ought it to be a subject 
for wonder, that this science is held in so great estima- 
tion by monks, whereas the dogmas and tenets of their 
religion, especially those that have no scriptural argu- 
ments in their favour, are, in a great measure, propped 
by arguments drawn from if, and rendered thereby as in- 
comprehensible as a fear of detection could desire them. 
Demonology, or the treatise on demons, whether good 
or bad, is designedly fitted up for the purpose of sup- 
porting the modern doctrine of purgatory — I call it mo- 
dern, as not being^ either known or thought upon in the 
first ages of the church. The different parts, also, into 
which metaphysics is divided, as ontology, psychology, 
demonology, and the other ologies, are the whetstones 
on which their minds are sharpened to defend, and even 
to invent, new doctrines and dogmas, which are after- 
ward held up as articles of faith to a benighted people. 

The attention bestowed by them upon physics is very 
limited, scarcely passing the bare knowledge of the first 
properties of bodies. Astronomy is studied hardly at all, 
and the mathematics, though studied, are yet passed over 
in so superficial a manner, that a child at one of the 
common schools in America would be able to puzzle 
many a professor of them, while endeavouring to demon- 
strate a proposition of Euclid. The reason why geome- 
try is so little studied probably may be, because they are 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 95 

unwilling to accustom the minds of the monks to mathe- 
matical demonstrations, lest they should look for the 
same on other subjects. 

The foregoing studies are considered but a prelude to 
the study of dogmatical theology. To this point all 
others tend, and to acquire a perfeet knowledge of this, 
monks spare neither time nor labour. It being that which 
properly belongs to their profession, they endeavour to 
acquire a thorough knowledge of it, and if their individual 
talents keep*pace with their perseverance, they generally 
succeed. It has been remarked, that "monks of the 
least exemplary life are generally the best theologians." 
This remark has certainly its foundation in truth, for the 
name of "good theologian" is a passport to arrive at the 
highest honours of the order, and therefore the ambitious, 
who are very seldom void of talents, direct all the ener- 
gies of their minds to the acquisition of that which will 
be the probable means of satisfying their darling passion. 
It must not be supposed, however, that a greater know- 
ledge of God and his attributes, which a good theologian 
is supposed to possess, necessarily includes also a greater 
love for God himself. This would probably be the case, 
if the object for which theology is studied was the ad- 
vancement of God's kingdom, and not the exaltation of 
self; but the latter being manifestly the real object, the 
knowledge derived from it never goes farther than the 
understanding, and is therefore incapable of touching the 
heart. 

Besides, the theology of the church of Rome is in itself 
corrupt, and has a strong tendency to make the student 
forget the subject of it — or what at least ought to be the 
subject of it — God ; while his mind is employed in un- 
ravelling the intricate and disputable doctrines, which, 
not having any foundation in revelation, are enveloped in 
obscure and unusual forms of expression. The authority 
of Thomas Aquinas, called the " angelic doctor," or of 
the " seraphic doctor" Bonaventure, are esteemed by 
them of equal weight with the express words of revela- 
tion. Texts of Scripture, without their contexts, which 
would bestow on them a very different meaning from thai 



96 SIX YEARS IN THE 

which they bear when they stand alono, are brought 
forward in support of some particular tenets ; while all 
and every subject is treated on after the old, syllogistic 
method, which confounds the understanding without in- 
creasing the love for God, or implanting in the mind a 
desire of being guided by the divine influence of the 
Spirit of truth. 

The portions of Scripture which are brought forward to 
strengthen any particular doctrine are all mutilated, that 
is, such as, taking them apart from the context, seem to 
favour the doctrine which is disputed upon ; but if there 
can be no portion found, which however twisted and 
turned, yet still refuses to answer the occasion, then the 
doctrine is established on the strength of tradition, or on. 
the " ipse dixit" of a pope ; and not unfrequently on 
quotations from the apocryphal writings. Thus — -and let 
one example serve for all, as this book is not designed for 
controversy, but for a simple history of things as they 
are — the doctrine of purgatory is defended by arguments 
taken from tradition, not even excepting pagan, Jewish, 
and Mahometan, for, indeed, popish theologians are not 
over delicate in selecting their authorities, provided these 
authorities favour their views. Quotations are then taken 
for its support from the Apocrypha, especially from 
2 Maccabees xxi. 43 — 45, and after these, they endeavour 
to make the New Testament speak in its favour, quoting 
from Matt. xii. 31, 32. 1 Cor. iii. 15. 1 Pet. iii. 19. 
They care but little that the books of Maccabees have no 
evidence of inspiration ; they answer their ends, and 
therefore are adopted. The quotations from the New 
Testament, upon examining the context, will be found to 
favour as much the metempsychosis of Pope Pythagoras, 
as the purgatory of Pope Joan. 

It will be no wonder, then, to find theologians any 
thing but pious men, when such a system of theology as 
that we have been describing, is taken into consideration 
Indeed, they seem conscious themselves of this want of 
piety ; as may be gathered from their condemning many 
propositions, which were probably designed for them, by 
the friends of vital godliness. Thus, the negative answers 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 97 

to the following questions are condemned by them as 
heretical. " Whether the religious knowledge acquired 
by a wicked man can be termed theology ?" " Whether 
a vicious person can in effect obtain a true knowledge of 
religion I" " Whether the office and ministry of an im- 
pious ecclesiastic can be pronounced salutary and effica- 
cious ?" " Whether a licentious and ungodly man can 
be susceptible of divine illumination ?" These and many 
such like propositions are condemned in the usual form, 
as "scandalous, heretical, smelling of heresy, offensive 
to pious ears," Src, by those who fear for themselves, 
and feel conscious, that if they were not condemned, they 
themselves would be no longer neither theologians, nor 
religionists, nor efficacious priests, nor susceptible of 
divine illumination 

The polemical divinity of the church of Rome, under 
which head are classed the works of all those who en- 
deavour to defend the doctrines of that church against the 
reasonings and scriptural objections of the friends of the 
gospel, is also studied with great attention by monastic 
orders. There are professorships established in two, and 
sometimes four places of every province, where all those 
young monks, who are in possession of superior talents, 
are sent to learn the manner of defending their religion 
against the attacks of heretics. It frequently happens 
that the young men chosen for this study are already far 
gone in infidelity, and therefore laugh in their own minds, 
and even among themselves, at the idea of being made 
defenders of a religion in which they do not believe. 
The metaphysical reasonings of dogmatical theology, 
united to the fables of the breviary, were the chief means 
of leading them into infidelity, while it is very probable 
that the study of polemics will give them a knowledge of 
reformed Christianity, and thereby make them suspect 
that Christianity might possibly be true, though it had 
been corrupted by the church of which they are members. 
This, however, does not always happen. Those who 
are confirmed infidels, only find new arguments i» favour 
of the religion of nature, by becoming acquainted with 
the numerous sects and parties into which Christianity is 

10 



98 SIX YEARS IN THE 

divided, and laugh at them all accordingly. Being obliged 
for self-preservation to dissemble their real opinions, they 
imagine that they cannot show their zeal for the Roman 
Catholic religion in a better way, than by impugning the 
doctrines of g'ospel Christians, and defending those of 
popery ; " for if it be necessary," they argue thus, " that 
Christianity should exist, it is preferable for us to stand 
fast in that particular kind of it to which we are pro* 
fessionally engaged, and from which benefits accrue to us, 
than to interest ourselves in any other to which we are 
equally indifferent, and from which we can expect nothing 
but persecution and hardships — the sure consequences 
of leaving that by which we get our living." Others 
there are, who become cured of infidelity ; yet fear to 
openly embrace the doctrines of the Bible. They pant 
after the freedom of worshipping God according to the 
dictates of their consciences, and anxiously wait for an 
opportunity of throwing off the yoke of monkery and 
popery, without running any personal risk. They, in 
the mean time, until such an opportunity presents itself, 
endeavour to separate Christianity from the dust, with 
which it is enveloped in the church of Rome, and while 
conforming themselves outwardly to all the practices of 
that church, they inwardly, as far as they are able, serve 
God according to the way he has marked out in his holy 
word. Their sermons and other clerical duties are not 
performed for the purpose of increasing the adherents of 
the church of Rome, or of propagating its particular 
tenets ; but for that of drawing sinners to repentance, and 
to an unadulterated knowledge of Christ, at least as far 
as they can do so without exciting suspicion. Of this 
description of monks was the young man of Chambery, 
whose sufferings and final triumph have been already re- 
lated. Many more also of the same kind might be found, 
who only wait for an opportunity to regain their liberty, 
in order to become pious and zealous Christians, and 
faithful preachers of the gospel of salvation. 

Moral theology is the last in order, though not in im- 
portance, of monastic studies. By this monks are fitted 
to stand up in the place of Christ in the confessional, and 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 99 

to weigh with scrupulous nicety the degree of sinfulness 
attached to the words, actions, and even thoughts of those 
who are so foolish or so led astray, as to trust to the ab- 
solution pronounced by them for the pardon and remission 
of their sins. By this, they are taught the way of bring- 
ing the minds of the people wholly under their control, 
and of exercising the acquired influence to the advantage 
of their order and of themselves. Of all the corruptions 
in the corrupt system of popish corruptions, this is the 
most corrupt. As preachers of corrupt doctrines, their in- 
fluence over the people would never pass the bounds of 
moderation, as doctrines that fear the light cannot be so 
well promulgated in a public church — and by such chiefly 
is their influence acquired ; but by the institution of au- 
ricular confessions they have acquired ingress into the 
minds and souls oT each individual, and never fail, after 
becoming master of their secrets, to turn and direct the 
current of their thoughts and actions to one great object— 
a firm reliance on the truth and infallibility of the church 
of Rome ; which reliance being once established, they 
can then turn the minds of their penitents to do any thing, 
however offensive to God, which, according to them, may 
be of advantage to the church. The miserable man who 
had been excited to assassinate Henry IV. of France by 
a Jesuit confessor, may be an example of the truth of this 
observation. Very probably the assassin was a supersti- 
tious bigot, and the representations of his confessor, who 
well knew how to work on his weak mind, excited his 
frenzy against the king, whom he was led to believe a 
heretic, and an enemy of religion. He therefore ima- 
gined, that so far from offending God by killing a heretical 
king, he was only acquiring merit, and doing an action 
which would be very pleasing to the Supreme Being. 

On auricular confession is founded the vulgar belief of 
the great power of priests. It is natural for the human 
mind to regard with a degree of veneration the person 
of one, who, it is led to think, represents the person of 
Jesus Christ, in his ministerial office, and who has the 
faculty of forgiving or retaining the sins of the people. 
The priests, well aware of this delusion, under which the 



100 SIX YEARS IN THE 

people lie, let no opportunity slip of increasing 1 it, and 
while tete*a-tete and alone with their penitents, they have 
every opportunity of inculcating, without fear of contra- 
diction, the most absurd doctrines, and of giving them at 
the same time a most exalted idea of their own power 
and greatness. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Continuation of remarks upon moral theology — Mortal and venial 
sins — Precepts of the church — Prohibition to sell flesh-meat on 
Fridays and Saturdays — Punishment of those who transgress the 
precept of fasting — Confession and communion — Sentence of 
excommunication — Number of popish sacraments — The Eucha- 
rist — Anathema of the Council of Trent Sgainst all who deny 
the Real Presence — Absurdity of that doctrine — One hundred 
thousand Christs created every day — Popish inventions for the sup- 
port of the doctrine of Transubstantiation — The miraculous cor- 
poral — Miraculous particle — State of the Jews at Rome — A mule's 
testimony to the truth of the Real Presence — Anecdote of Rabe- 
lais — Sale of masses — Cost of a high mass — Reflections — The 
treatise upon oaths — No faith to be kept with heretics — Dispens- 
ing power of priests — Murder of Protestant clergymen in Ire- 
land — Jesuitical morality. 

This moral theology, the principal use of which I 
have endeavoured to give an idea of above, is in itself a 
huge mass of opinions given by monks, friars, and other 
kinds of priests, on the tendency the actions of their fel- 
low creatures have to hinder or give claims to salvation. 
If all the books which were written on this subject were 
gathered together, they would probably amount to some 
thousands of volumes ! As it is, they cannot be digested, 
even for school use, into a less compass than two large 
octavos. The whole system is evidently founded on two 
unscriptural tenets : salvation by works ; thereby render- 
ing of no avail free salvation through the merits of Christ ; 
and the equally unscriptural doctrine of the distinction 
between sins ; some being denominated mortal, and others 
venial. By reason of this distinction of sins, the vari- 
ous ways in which man may transgress against the Su- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 101 

preme Being and against his laws, and the various degrees 
of sinfulness attached to such transgressions, are examined 
with the greatest exactness. One of the treatises, (the 
whole is divided into separate treatises,) and a long one it 
is too — is taken up in examining the ends of men's 
actions ; that is, of the motives for which such actions are 
performed. According then, as such actions, though es- 
sentially good or bad in themselves, may be performed for 
a good or evil end or motive, or as one or the other may 
predominate in them, they are pronounced either mortal 
or venial, indifferent or neutral, by those self-constituted 
judges between man and his God. Let the assassination 
of Henry IV., to which allusion has been made in the 
last chapter, serve for an example in illustration. Murder 
is in itself evil, as no one will deny. But if the end for 
which murder is committed be to prevent greater evils ; 
murder is then no longer murder, no longer evil. Henry 
was assassinated because he was an enemy of the church ; 
so far then from his murderer having committed sin in 
murdering him, the end for which he did it fully justi- 
fied him. Such is Jesuitical theology, founded on this 
abominable principle : " The end justifieth the means !" 
The " tractatus de preceptis ecclesiae," or, treatise on 
the commandments of the church, is another part of the 
moral theology, by which Rome teaches her clergy to 
domineer over the consciences of the people. These 
precepts are seven in number, and although far, very far, 
indeed, from having any portion of the Divine Word to 
enforce the observance of them, they are yet commanded 
by those tyrants over gospel liberty to be observed with 
the same scrupulousness, and under the same penalty, as 
the commandments of God himself. The number of 
fasts ; the food to be used in time of lent ; the quantity of 
same food ; whether to be taken morning or evening ; 
how those are to act who are in a delicate state of health ; 
the age at which children are bound to observe lent; 
whether nurses, who have young children at their breasts, 
be free from the precept ; each and every one of these 
minutiae, and many more of equal absurdity, are discussed, 
and judgment passed on all those who do not observe 

10* 



10$ SIX YEARS IN THE 

them with the greatest precision. The due observance 
©f saint-days, the confession of sins to a priest, the re- 
ceiving the eueharist at least, once a year, and the pay- 
ment of tithes, are all and each commanded umler pain 
of mortal sin. A minute detail oi' eaeh oi' the foregoing 
ffreeeptS, and of the degree oi' sinfulness attached to their 
non-observance, would be quite uninteresting to the 
reader* Be it sufficient, then, to say, that when con- 
scienee and the fear of committing mortal sins are not 
Sufficient to make them be observed by the people, the 
secular arm is called in to regulate the errors of eon- 
Bcience. In Koine, no tlesh-meat. is sold in the public 
markets on Fridays or Saturdays, nor during the whole 
oi' lent, unless at two or three stalls, which are licensed 
by the government, on paying a great tine, to sell it to 
those who have a written permission from their respective 
parish priests, or from other clerical superiors, to make 
use of meat at such times ; which permission the latter 
never give,' unless when well paid for it. At the public 
restaurants and hotels, unless at those frequented by 
English travellers, it is not permitted to cook tlesh-meat 
on fast-days ; and should the parish priest have any cause 
to suspect that tlesh-meat. is eaten on such days in the 
private houses of any oi' his parishioners, he is at liberty to 
break into the privacies oi' domestic circles, and bring the 
Offenders to justice, or rather iujusticc. Many cases oi" 
public punishment for transgressing this precept, oi' fast- 
ing are on record ; but one in particular, which was re- 
lated to me by an eye-witness, is so glaringly unjust ami 
cruel, that I cannot refrain from relating it. * A VOUOff 
man travelling on foot from Aquapendente to Rome, 
retired during the heat of the day, it being summer, to an 
osfcria, or obscure inn, on the road to repose, and take 
some refreshment. Having brought from home, for the 
sake oi' economy, some bread and meat ; he opened his 
wallet and began his repast, the host supplying him with 
a bottle of wine. He had not half finished his repast, 
when two carabincri, or policemen, came into the same 
tavern, and seeing him doing what was not lawful to be 
done on a fast-day — eating meat — they immediately took 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 103 

nim prisoner, and conveyed him to Rome between them. 
He was brought before the court the next day and con* 
demned to pay a penalty of fifty sctidi, or dollars ; or if 
unable to pay the fine, to suffer one hundred lashes on 
the spot where he had eaten the meat, and be kept two 
months with a chain to his leg at the public works, and 
confined by night in the castle of St. Angelo. The latter 
sentence was executed to a tittle, while mine host was 
fined fifty scudi also, for allowing meat to be eaten in his 
house on a day prohibited by the church." Had the 
same young man been found guilty of maiming one of 
his fellow creatures, or of robbing him of his property, 
his punishment would not be severer, if indeed so severe, 
as the one inflicted for daring to transgress the precepts 
of the church — though the former transgression be against 
the laws of God ; the latter against the laws of man only. 
Those who neglect to go to confession, and receive the 
sacrament at least once a year, are also punished by the 
secular arm. Their names are affixed to the gate of the 
church, and they are forbidden to enter it till they are 
reconciled to the priest. If they continue obstinate, they 
are then formally and solemnly excommunicated. The 
ceremony of excommunication is performed in the fol- 
lowing manner. The parish priest, attended by a deacon, 
sub-deacon, and acolythist, comes forward, dressed in 
white, and advancing to the lowest step of the altar, reads 
the following: Ego hujus parochiae praesul, juxta potes- 
tatem mihi concessam ab episcopo diocesano, et ex auc- 
toritate summi pontificis, his presentibus communione 

fidelium privo, et ab eadem separo N in hac paro- 

chia domiciliantem propter ; et omnes fideles 

cujuscumque gradus, status, sexus vel conditionis ab 
ejusdem consortio, colloquio, <fec. prohibeo sub paena ex- 
communicationis majoris ipso facto incurrendae ab iis con- 
trafacientibus, vel contradicentibus. Et sicut extinguun- 
tur haec lumina altaris Dei, sic etiam ab eodem aufertur 
omnis spes futurae vitae, et post mortem, ejus cadaver 
careat sepultura Christiana. Amen. (I, the parish priest 
of this parish, according to the power conferred on me by 
the bishop of the diocess, and by the authority of the 



104 SIX TEARS IN THE 

supreme pontiff, deprive and separate from the communion 
of the faithful, N , residing in the parish, on ac- 
count of * * * * (here the cause of the excommunica- 
tion is assigned,) and prohibit all the faithful of whatever 
rank, station, sex, or condition, from holding any inter- 
course, or connexion, &c. with the same, under penalty 
of excommunication, which will be incurred by those so 
acting. And as these candles of God's altar are extin- 
guished, so also is every hope of future salvation taken 
away from the same ; and let his body be deprived of 
Christian burial after death. Amen.) As the parish 
priest reads the foregoing, the candles are extinguished 
one after another by the attendants. The sentence is 
afterward printed, and affixed to the gate of the church and 
in the other public places of the parish. 

The sentence of excommunication is not withdrawn 
without great trouble and expense on the part of the ex- 
communicated. He is in the mean time shunned by every 
one, and even by his own family. If he has a wife, she 
is not allowed to speak to him or eat at one table with him. 
If he has children, they are under the same prohibition. 
If he be a poor man, and dependent on his daily labour for 
subsistence, his work is withdrawn, and he is very likely 
to die of starvation, if the sentence of excommunication 
be not soon taken off. Having at length satisfied the 
priest in every thing, he is placed kneeling on a white 
cloth at the foot of the altar, and his back being made 
bare, he is ivhipped by the priest, singing or repeating 
the psalm " Miserere," and all this in presence of the 
assembled congregation. He then asks pardon of the 
priest and people, for the scandal and bad example 
which he had given ; and having received absolution, he 
is allowed to partake of the sacrament, and thus becomes 
fully reconciled to the church. It is a very common 
thing to find the sentence of excommunication affixed to 
the church-doors of Rome and of the Roman state at dif- 
ferent periods of the year, but more especially after 
Easter ; for this is the stated time at which the inhabit- 
ants are obliged to make their annual confessions, and 
receive the sacrament. It may be easily imagined, then, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 105 

how many, in order to escape punishment, go through 
the form of confession and communion with their hearts 
far removed from the love of God and of his religion. 
A great many, especially those of the learned professions, 
perform the ceremony with the greatest indifference, 
being confirmed infidels, and only watching an opportu- 
nity of throwing off the mask of hypocrisy. And how 
could they act otherwise than with indifference, when 
they are forced to perform what they do not believe in 1 
Adoration is a freewill offering, and by no means accept- 
able to the Deity, unless it proceeds from the free, un- 
forced agency of the giver. God wishes the religion of 
the heart ; how then can he be pleased with that which 
the outward man is forced to give him ? 

There are other treatises comprised in this system of 
moral theology, particular mention of which would be 
found quite uninteresting to the readers. I cannot, how- 
ever, forbear making some few remarks on the " tractatus 
de sacramentis," or the treatise on the sacraments. 
These are seven, according to the belief of the Roman 
Catholic church : viz. baptism, confirmation, eucharist, 
penance, extreme-unction, holy orders, and matrimony. 
More than usual pains are taken by popish theologians 
in defending and upholding the number and efficacy of 
these sacraments. Each of them is argued upon in sepa- 
rate and distinct treatises, and huge folio volumes are writ- 
ten upon some of them — so much labour and trouble does 
it require to give to error the appearance of truth ! They 
are all and every one deemed essential to salvation ; 
though it may be asked how that can be established, 
whereas laymen do not receive the sacrament of orders, 
and priests cannot receive that of marriage ? This diffi- 
culty, however, is got over by a distinction (popish theo- 
logians are great hands at distinctions) between univer- 
sality and individuality, that is, they are essential to the 
cnurch universally, though not to each individual of the 
church. How much more honest would it be to expunge 
the last two wholly from the number of the sacraments, 
than to have recourse to such a forced distinction ! But 
this cannot be done, for then the churcn would acknow- 



106 SIX YEARS IN THE 

ledge itself to have erred ; and what then would become 
of its claims to infallibility ? 

The sacrament of the eucharist or last supper is espe- 
cially dwelt upon at unusual length, and propped by a 
host of arguments — some taken from Scripture, others 
from tradition, others from revelations made by some de- 
parted saints to some monks in this world, and not a few 
from miracles performed to give testimony of its institu- 
tion in the sense in which it is understood by Roman 
Catholics. It is well known to every one, — or if it be 
not, it should be known, in order to judge of the value of 
an "anathema" — that the council of Trent anathematizes 
every one who would dare say, that in the sacrament of 
the altar, (thus the last supper is called,) " there is not 
really present the body and blood of Christ." Roman 
Catholics believe, therefore, that after the words of con- 
secration " hoc est corpus meum," " this is my body," 
pronounced by the priest, the whole substance of the bread 
is changed into the body of Christ, and, likewise, that the 
whole substance of the wine is changed into his blood, after 
the consecrating words " hie est calix sanguinis mei," &c. 
" this is the cup of my blood." It is evident, that nothing 
can be more contradictory to Scripture or to common sense 
than this doctrine ; the words " this is my body," " this is 
my blood," being mere figurative expressions, as any one 
may perceive who is not blinded by ignorance and super- 
stition. Besides, such a transubstantiation is so opposite 
to the testimony of our senses, as completely to under- 
mine the whole proof of all the miracles by which God 
hath confirmed revelation. By it, the same body is alive 
and dead at one and the same moment, and may be in a 
million of different places, whole and entire at the same 
instant of time ; part of Christ's body is also made equal 
to the whole. If this be true, what difficulty is there in 
saying, that all the other miracles, which are related in 
the gospel, were only tricks of legerdemain, and imposi- 
tions practised on the senses of those who witnessed 
them. It is also contrary to the end of the institution of 
the sacrament, which is to represent and commemorate 
Christ, not to believe that he is corporeally present, as is 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 107 

clear from 1 Cor. xi. 24. 26. But it would be needless 
to waste time in refuting a doctrine, which, by its impious 
consequences, fully refutes itself. The priests being 
conscious, that on it is founded the greater part of the 
superhuman power to which they so arrogantly lay 
claim, leave no stone unturned, no argument, or appear- 
ance of argument untried, by which they may impress 
on the minds of their followers a firm belief in its truth. 
On the belief, that the sacrament contains the real and 
very body and blood of Christ, is founded the sacrifice 
of the mass, as it is styled, by which they get their sub- 
sistence, and in which they offer Christ as a victim for 
the sins of the living and the dead. Although " Christ,'''' 
if the apostle be not mistaken, " was (but) once offered 
to bear the sins of many" and though " we are sanctified 
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for 
all" (Heb. ix. 28, and x. 10,) yet he is sacrificed a 
hundred thousand times every day throughout the Ro- 
man Catholic world, and three hundred thousand times 
on the day held in commemoration of his birth ; there 
being three masses celebrated by every priest on Christ- 
mas day. This computation is made supposing that 
there be but one hundred thousand popish priests in the 
world, whereas there are probably double or treble that 
number. A hundred thousand Christs, therefore, are 
made every day as soon as the words of consecration are 
pronounced by the priests ; and w- re it possible to divide 
each particle of the bread into a million separate parts, 
and transfer them to so many places apart, there would 
be present really and corporeally as many Christs as 
there are parts in the particle. A priest, therefore, in 
consecrating a wafer makes as many Gods as there are 
infinitely small parts into which a consecrated wafer can 
be divided ! ! No wonder, then, that men possessed of 
such extraordinary power — even that of making Him 
who made them — should be held in such veneration by 
all who believe in its reality. To nurture this belief, no 
device, no ingenuity is spared on their part. Being 
unable to fix its foundation on gospel grounds, they must 
have recourse to fables and lying wonders, to prodigies 



108 SIX YEARS IN THE 

and miracles. Out of a great many of these, I shall se- 
lect a few for the satisfaction of the reader. 

In the parish church of Monte Fiascone,* there is 
preserved a corporal,! which is dyed red with blood, 
that issued from a host. The tradition annexed to this 
corporal is as follows : A young priest, while celebrating 
mass, often doubted of the reality of his power to change 
the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. 
One day, in particular, this doubt attacked him during 
mass with more than its usual force. After having pro- 
nounced the words of consecration, and while breaking 
the host in two, (a thing always done before the priest 
communicates, for what reason I don't know,) k> ! blood 
is seen issuing from the wafer, and in such quantity as 
to change the colour of the corporal, milk-white before, 
into a deep red. The assembled multitude then humbly 
prostrated themselves and adored the holy particle, which 
thus condescended to confirm by a miracle the truth of 
the doctrine of the real presence, and to strengthen by 
the same the minds of those who may be tempted to 
doubt of its truth. The priest, whom the temptation of 
the evil one had led to doubt of his own power, fainted 
at the foot of the altar, and was borne in a state of in- 
sensibility to the sacristy. On recovering, he humbly 
confessed his doubts, and lived ever after so holily, that 
he was deemed worthy after death to be enrolled among 

* A town in the pope's dominions, and situated in that part of them 
which is called " il patrimonio di San Pietro," or the patrimony of 
St. Peter, from its having been bestowed to the then reigning pope 
by Constantine the Great, on his first embracing Christianity. The 
deeds of conveyance are still preserved in the church of St. John 
Lateran at Rome ; though many are so incredulous as to doubt their 
genuineness. I remember to have read, in one of the notes to an 
edition of " Orlando Furioso," printed in some heretical country — 
Germany, I believe — in which Orlando is said to have made a jour- 
ney to the moon, where he discovered, among other things worthy 
of attention, the very identical deeds by which this part of Italy was 
made over to the successors of St. Peter ! 

f A white linen cloth, which is spread upon the altar during the 
celebration of mass ; so called from being honoured with the sup- 
posed body of our Saviour. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 109 

the number of saints. The corporal is preserved to this 
clay in a case of gold, as an eternal memorial of the truth 
of consubstantiation ; an altar having been built in the 
same church for its particular worship ; which is called 
" l'altare del corporale miracoloso," or, the altar of the 
miraculous corporal. Many miracles are daily performed 
before this altar, and devotees come to worship at it from 
all parts of Italy. This story is preserved in the archives 
of the church of Monte Fiascone, and fully authenticated 
by the signatures of many respectable persons who wit- 
nessed the miracle. But, I fear, were these respectable 
persons to arise again from their graves, after a residence 
there of some ages, there are many heretics who would 
doubt the truth of it. Are you, reader, one of them ? 

In another church at Rome, known by the name of 
" Church of the most holy Sacrament," there is pre- 
served a particle which changed the water of a deep well 
into blood. The manner in which this happened is said 
to be the following : — On a Holy Thursday, the Jews 
sent one of their number to a Christian church in order 
that he might get possession of the Christian's God, 
under pretext of receiving the sacrament. The man, 
having received the particle in his mouth from the fingers 
of the priest, immediately withdrew from the church 
without swallowing it, and carried it to the house of his 
rabbi. The latter invited the other Jews to assemble 
next day, Good Friday, and have the pleasure of again 
torturing the God of the Christians. His followers 
assembled accordingly, in great numbers, each being 
armed with a knife, or some other sharp instrument, in 
order to reduce to atoms the particle. The rabbi him- 
self gave it the first cut, when immediately blood began 
to flow from the wafer, to the astonishment of all pre- 
sent. Fearing that the wicked deed might come to the 
knowledge of the authorities, they took up the particle 
and threw it into a deep well, the water -of which was 
instantaneously turned into blood, and a divine splendour 
was seen to encompass its mouth. This was observed 
by some one passing by, who immediately gave the 
alarm ; and, on search being made, the blessed particle 

11 



110 SIX YEARS IN THE 

was found floating on the water, and still bleeding. The 
rabbi and his accomplices were obliged to confess their 
crime, and suffered the punishment of death, which they 
so well merited, having been torn asunder by the popu- 
lace ; while the wafer was carried in procession to the 
nearest church, and deposited in the tabernacle. A church 
was afterward built on the site of the rabbi's house, and 
the identical wafer is still preserved in it, for the adora- 
tion of future ages. 

The foregoing story was probably invented in order to 
find a pretence for extorting money from the wretched 
Jews, and to excite against them the popular hatred. 
It is made also to answer the purpose of confirming the 
people's belief in the real presence by a miracle. It is 
well known that the Jews have more liberty and more 
justice shown them in the capital of Mahometanism than 
in that of popery — by professors of the religion of the 
false prophet than by the followers of the meek and 
lowly Jesus. They are shut up, like so many malefac- 
tors, between two gates, every night, in a place called 
" il ghetto," by their Christian taskmasters ; whereas, in 
Constantinople, they at least have the power of retiring 
to their homes when they think proper, and have no 
gates to hinder them from access to their families, and 
no prisons to fear, if found in the streets after a certain 
hour. They are not obliged to listen to the preaching 
of the Turkish mufti, under pain of fine and imprison- 
ment; whereas at Rome they are forced* to hear a ser- 
mon once a week delivered by some friar, in order to 
imbue their minds with that idolatry, though under 
another name, for which their forefathers were so often 
punished, and which Jews so generally hold in abhor- 
rence. What I have said of their treatment in Rome 
can also be said with equal truth concerning it in the 
other cities of Italy where they are to be found ; and 

* If they do not attend the sermon, and answer to their names 
when called, they are fined and imprisoned. When they do attend, 
there is a man, with a long pole, who strikes them if he observe 
their attention withdrawn from the preacher for one moment. No 
wonder, then, that the Jews hate Christianity, when they have such 
a sample of it as this before them. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. Ill 

more especially in the other cities of the pope's tempo- 
ral dominions, as Ancona, Senegaglia, Bologna, &c. 

In the cathedral church of Venice, there is also pre- 
served in a vial the blood of our Saviour.' Some say, 
that it is a part of the identical blood that flowed from his 
wounds at Calvary, while others, not so credulous, think 
it only the blood which flowed from a consecrated wafer, 
and was collected and preserved for the veneration of the 
people. I shall relate one story more, fabricated for a 
proof of the real presence, and then quit the subject, 
with which, I fear, the reader is already disgusted. 
Some time after the reformation in Germany, a heretical 
painter came to Rome to perfect himself in his art, by 
copying after the celebrated masters, who have adorned 
by their works " the holy city. 11 * Being imbued with the 
sacramentarian heresy, he endeavoured, as far as he could 
without danger, to ridicule the doctrine of the real pre- 
sence. One day, while riding through the street on a 
mule, he saw at a distance a procession, carrying the 
viaticumt or eucharist to a dying person. He endeavour- 

* Urbs sacra, or holy city, is an epithet applied to Rome by many 
writers on ecclesiastical history, when they have need to mention that 
capital. Perhaps they understand " sacra" in the sense Virgil applies 
" sacra auri fames," that is, " accursed." If so, they only imitate the 
Tuscan expression of "Roma santa; popoli cornuti," holy Rome, 
but horned people. 

-j- Viaticum properly means " provisions for a journey." A dying 
man, being about to set out on a journey to the other world, is first 
anointed ; that is, he has his feet and other parts of his body besmear- 
ed with oil, in which consists the sacrament of extreme unction. He 
may, or he may not receive the eucharist, prior to this operation, 
which on this occasion is called " viaticum," as being that which he 
must live upon during his journey to heaven. Rabelais, the French 
wit, being asked by a friend some days before his death, if he were 
prepared to die 1 ? "0 yes!" answered he, "for I have got my 
wallet stored with the necessary provisions, and my boots greased," 
— meaning that he had received the viaticum, and extreme unction. 
He was a Franciscan friar, whom a disgust for monkery hurled into 
infidelity. It is surprising, what trust is placed by Romanists in ex- 
treme unction. The first question asked by the friends of a deceased, 
upon being informed of his death, is, " Has he been anointed I" If the 
answer be in the affirmative, then follows the exclamation, " Thank 
God !" Salvation through the merits of a crucified Saviour is never 
once thought upon ! ! 



112 SIX YEARS IN THE 

ed to turn his mule into another street, lest he should be 
obliged to dismount and adore it, upon coming nearer. 
The animal, however, more devout than his rider, refused 
to be guided by him, and much against his will, bore him 
in front of the procession, where, as if to show him an 
example, it knelt down and devoutly adored the holy 
sacrament ! 

By such ridiculous stories as these related, is the 
popular superstition kept alive, and the priest's power 
upheld. Being unable to establish so absurd a doctrine 
on any part of the Divine word, and conscious that the 
belief in it forms the corner-stone of their other preten- 
sions, they spare neither conscience nor truth in their 
attempts to give it the appearance of a doctrine pleasing 
to the Supreme Being. Hence the miracles and other 
lying wonders invented in attestation of it; hence also 
the corporals, innumerable portions of blood, incorrupti- 
ble wafers, and such like mummery, to be found scattered 
through the churches of Italy, and through other parts 
of popish Europe. The people, thus wheedled into a 
belief of transubstantiation, have the most exalted opi- 
nion of the men who are the agents of it, and accord- 
ingly give money to have it performed on their behalf, 
that is, they buy masses, to be celebrated according to 
their intention, from those traffickers in the blood of 
Christ. Rich men, especially such as have led a life of 
debauchery, leave by their will a sum of money for so 
many masses to be annually celebrated for the repose of 
their souls. Money often amassed by extortion and in- 
justice is thus bequeathed, in hope of appeasing the 
Divine wrath by offering again as a propitiatory sacrifice 
Him who made atonement once for all for the sins of the 
whole world on Calvary ; the sacrifice being thus impi- 
ously reiterated in contradiction of the words of a dying 
Saviour, " it is finished ;" or, as the Latin Vulgate has 
them, '" consummatum est." There are in Rome hun- 
dreds of priests, whose means of subsistence entirely 
depend upon the emolument derived from masses. They 
make the tour of the different churches every morning, 
and wherever they find the most money for their mass 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 113 

there they celebrate it. Two Roman Pauls, about 
twenty-five cents, is generally the price of a common 
mass ; and four dollars, or more, for a high mass, or 
" missa cantata," which cannot be celebrated without the 
presence of four or five priests, who divide the money 
between them, after the performance, as comedians are 
accustomed to do with their night's benefit ; the high 
priest receiving the largest portion, and so on according 
to their different ranks. 

The " tractatus de juramentis," or the treatise on oaths, 
has in it something so subversive of the general good of 
society, especially of Protestant society, that I cannot re- 
frain from making a few remarks upon it. After explain- 
ing the nature of an oath, and the rigour with which it 
ought to be observed, this treatise goes on to determine 
the degree, of sin attached to the breaking of it ; what 
penalty is incurred by the man who takes a false oath in 
attestation of an untruth, and whether one taken for the 
good of the church be sinful or otherwise. The latter 
question is that which I wish to call the attention of the 
reader to in particular ; as it may teach him the degree 
of trust and confidence which he can safely place in any 
oath, contract, or bond entered into with any Roman 
Catholic, when such oath or contract be in any way con- 
trary to the good of the Romish church. It has been 
decreed by the council of Constance, and the same decree 
has been confirmed by divers popes, and practised upon 
in most places, if not in all, where Roman Catholics are 
mixed up with Protestants ; " that no faith be kept with 
heretics." Every Roman Catholic is at liberty to swear 
to any lie which he himself pleases, or which he is in- 
structed to affirm, without falling into sin, provided he 
acts so for the good of the church. So far from such a 
violation of the sacredness of an oath being held as cri- 
minal, he is taught by his priest that it is meritorious and 
laudable. A Roman Catholic is also dispensed from exe- 
cuting the terms of an oath, which he may have entered 
into with a heretic, if the observance of such terms be 
hurtful to the interest of his church ; and a priest, when 
summoned before a Protestant court of justice to give 

11* 



114 SIX YEARS IN THE 

evidence against a co-religionist, can safely swear, though 
he is at the same time certain of the man's guilt, that he 
knows nothing whatever concerning the case in question ; 
and if the condemnation of the prisoner be attended with 
any damage to the church, he is commanded to swear 
positively to the prisoner's innocence. If he act other- 
wise, he is severely punished — perhaps suspended from 
his clerical duties. A Roman Catholic is not deemed 
delinquent when he invents any audacious calumny and 
confirms it by an oath, if his design be to promote the 
cause of popery, and to impede and cover with disgrace 
Protestantism. Thus in Ireland the Roman Catholic pe- 
riodicals teem every day with invectives against the Pro- 
testant clergy as a body, and more especially against 
those individually, who deem it a duty which they owe 
to God and society to thwart the priests in their system 
of imposition, and in their settled plan of leading to de- 
struction and final damnation the souls committed to their 
charge. On this account they incur the enmity of the 
priests, who are not sparing of their abuse, and if nothing 
true (which is generally the case) can be brought forward 
to injure their opponents in the opinion of the public, 
recourse is had to false accusations, which are speedily 
attested by some hopeful members of their flock. This 
is only acting up to the principle laid down in their mo- 
rality, "that nothing can be sinful or unjust when the 
advantage of the church is at stake." But it would be 
well if priests contented themselves with simply forging 
false accusations against the conscientious ministers of 
the gospel. Their zeal for the suppression of heresy 
often shows itself in acts of violence against the persons 
of the heretics ; for not unfrequently do they excite their 
deluded followers to insult and injure them. It is well 
known how many Protestant clergymen were waylaid 
and murdered in Ireland of late years, and how many of 
their houses were burned by nightly parties of priest- 
ridden bigots. It has been remarked that those ministers 
who were the most zealous and active in the cause of 
Christ, were always chosen for the assassin's knife ; 
while others who were indifferent to the propagation of 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 115 

gospel truth, and who lived on good terms with the priest, 
were always saved from harm under his protecting wing. 
Is it not then reasonable to suppose, that the murders 
and outrages committed on the former were not without 
the priests' knowledge ; or would it be too much to say- 
that those acts of violence were committed at their insti- 
gation ? The priests certainly connived at them, for they 
used every means in their power to screen the offenders 
from justice. But this is not all. A Roman Catholic 
can very easily obtain from his priest, for a trifle of 
money, a dispensation from performing any contract 
entered into with a Protestant, even in things which do 
not belong to the church, and from the performance of 
which the church could not possibly receive any damage. 
This power is granted to the priest by a canon of his 
church, wherein it is expressly declared " that every 
oath or contract, by which a Roman Catholic is bound to 
a Protestant, can be rendered null and void, if so it seem 
fit to the pope or priest." If then the Protestant have no 
better way of making the Roman Catholic adhere to his 
plighted faith, than the conscience of the latter, he may 
be almost certain of being deceived. The scruples of con- 
science are soon removed on paying a half-dollar, or some 
other sum, according to the means of the applicant, to a 
priest. According then to these doctrines, it is manifest, 
that any Protestant placing confidence in the oath of a 
Roman Catholic, acts, to say the least of it, imprudently. 
Either the Roman Catholic deceives him or he does not. 
If he does not, he is a Roman Catholic only in name, 
for he does not act up to the dictates of his church, and 
is unwilling to make use of her dispensing power. If 
he does, it is only the practical effects of the morality I 
have been giving a description of, and therefore no matter 
of wonder. Cobbett somewhere tells a story of a Cor- 
nish knave, who, before taking a false oath, which he 
was often in the habit of doing, was accustomed, before 
going to give his evidence, to promise to himself that 
he would swear falsely that day. Was this Cornish 
knave a Roman Catholic, or did he act so by advice of 
the priest ? It looks very like a Jesuitical prank. 



116 . SIX TEARS IN THE 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Reflections upon monastic studies — Extraordinary charity of those 
who endeavour to excuse doctrinal error — The young monk 
begins to see monachism as it really is — Schools in which he 
learns the secrets of monachism — Want of decorum in reciting 
the divine office — Gradual corruption of the young monk — Monks 
bons vivants — The manner in which the income of convents is 
spent — Belly versus Obedience ; a scene in monkish life — Cardi- 
nal Micara in jeopardy — The foregoing scene dramatized — Ca- 
lumny and detraction of monks — Their conversation in the 
refectory — Monkish luxuries obtained at the sacrifice of honour 
and virtue — Story of a young man, the victim of monkish calumny 
— Clerk of the kitchen — Manner of punishing a bad cook — 
Monkish fasting and abstinence — Lent — Dinners — Collation — 
Monkish false pretensions. 

The foregoing remarks on monastic studies will give 
the reader some idea of the way in which monks are 
prepared for acting their parts in the soul-destroying 
drama of popery. Many Protestants imagine, that most 
of the glaring corruptions, moral and dogmatical, which are 
to be found in the Romish church, are more the effects of 
human weakness, than of any organized system esta- 
blished by the authority of that church. But on examin- 
ing the works and opinions of popish theologians, and 
the canons by which these opinions are confirmed, it 
will be found that no error, however great, no supersti- 
tion, however derogating from the honour due to God, 
is left unsealed by the authority of the church itself. 
Monks therefore, and priests of every description, are 
taught the manner of propagating those errors, which, if 
they were not a component part of the doctrine of the 
church, would not form a portion, and the larger portion 
too, of the studies which are deemed essential to the candi- 
dates for the Roman Catholic ministry. People, therefore, 
who through an excess of charity overlook such glaring 
errors, or attribute them not to the church itself, but to 
the liability to err of human nature, should first examine 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETO. 117 

if this species of charity be not rather the effect of indif- 
ference for the vital doctrines of Christianity, than of 
love and desire of excusing the errors of their fellow 
men. If one single erroneous practice of the church of 
Rome can be found unauthorized by the clergy and head 
of that church, or if not expressly authorized, it can be 
found unfavoured indirectly, or not countenanced by 
them, then indeed there may be some room left for 
charitably hoping, that many of its absurd doctrines are 
the effects of popular superstition, and not the genuine 
teaching of the church ; but until such an one be found — 
and I believe that will be never — it will not be thought 
uncharitable to condemn the misplaced and extraordinary 
charity of those who are so desirous of exercising it in 
favour of error. 

Six years is the usual time allowed for passing through 
the course of study which has been described, after 
which the student is examined, arid if he be approved 
of, he obtains a license for preaching, and<€or exercis- 
ing the other offices attached to the priesthood. This 
license can be granted by no other than the chief-superior 
of the order, who is called the general ; but when the sub- 
jects are at a great distance from Rome, and cannot, there- 
fore, personally appear before him for examination with- 
out great inconvenience, it is then sent to them on the 
strength of a certificate, from their local superior, of their 
ability and fitness. During the years of study, the 
young monks have also more opportunities of observing 
the lives and conduct of the other monks, and of becoming 
more intimately acquainted with monachism than they 
had while simply novices. They are, during the time 
they are students, kept less confined, and allowed more 
intercourse with the older monks. This more intimate 
knowledge of the monastic state is generally, if not uni- 
versally, attended with disgust. They were comparatively 
happy while kept in ignorance of the real state of things ; 
but now that the whole, undisguised truth is open to 
them, when they have no opening left for escape, having 
made a solemn profession ; they find by experience the 
monastic state quite different in practice from what it 



118 . SIX YEARS IN THE 

appears to the uninitiated, or to those who judge from 
the theory of the rule. Where they expected to find 
peace, brotherly love, devotion, and godliness ; they dis- 
cover little else than contentions, mutual hatred, super- 
stition, and impiety. Wo be to him though, who is so 
imprudent as to express his dislike to such a life, after 
having made his vows. If he wishes to have any future 
peace, he must dissemble his disgust, and accommodate 
himself to circumstances. By degrees he will soon 
learn to live as others do, and by long practice in the art 
of monkery, he will become equal and perhaps surpass 
others in the very things for which he at first had so 
great an aversion. 

The choir, refectory, conversation room, &c. are the 
schools in which the secrets and practices of monach- 
ism are very soon learned. The very little attention paid 
to the divine office during the time it is reciting in choir 
is complained of — even by the monks themselves. They 
are consci(ius that the careless manner in which it is 
performed, is sufficient to destroy any degree of merit 
attached to it; and even taking it for granted, that the 
repetition of psalms in an unknown tongue can be a right 
way of offering homage to the Supreme Being, the inat- 
tention with which it is performed must certainly render 
it rather offensive than pleasing to him. Many monks 
do not understand the language in which it is recited, 
while those who do are for the greater part confirmed 
infidels, and go through it as a part of their daily labour. 
The words of the prophet Isaiah can be justly then 
applied to a monkish choir — " These worship me with 
their lips, but their hearts are far from me." The young 
monk, on leaving the convent in which he passed his 
year of probation, where some attention is paid to de- 
corum at least, in the performance of this duty, feels sur- 
prised at the inattention it is gone through with,in the other 
convents. By degrees, however, he accustoms himself 
to this want of respect and reverence in the worship of 
God, and very soon joins his brethren in snuff-taking, 
laughing, smiling, and in the other devices practised by 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC.' 119 

them to kill the time during which they are obliged to 
give their bodily presence to the worship of the Supreme 
Being. 

The refectory is another school, in which the young 
monk learns the real condition of the life he had embraced, 
and to which he had bound himself by his solemn profes- 
sion. The table of the convent, in which he passed his 
novitiate, or year of probation, was frugal and temperate, 
and rather scanty ; he will then be surprised — agreeably 
so perhaps — to find the tables of such convents as are not 
troubled with novices, groaning under the weight of the 
best that the season can afford. There are no persons so 
fond of a good dinner as monks, and very few who put 
in practice so many shameless arts to obtain one. In- 
deed, all Italians are fond of eating, but monks are so to 
a proverb ; for " mangiare come un/rate" means to fare 
as sumptuously and as greedily as a friar — an expression 
applied to those who are able to maintain a good table. 
Another proverb also seems to hint that friars are well 
known for good livers ; indeed, their general appearance 
shows, that they are in the habit of spending more hours 
in the refectory than in the choir, for they are mostly fat, 
corpulent men. The Italian peasantry express their idea 
of a fat beast of any kind — a hog, e. g. — by comparing it 
to a friar. " Porco grasso come un frate," " a hog as fat 
as a friar," is a common expression, and not meant to 
cast reproach on the profession of a friar, but used as 
being adequate to convey an idea of extreme obesity. 

The income of the convents is principally spent in this 
way. If the superior should endeavour to curtail the 
usual number of dishes, or apply the money of the con- 
vent to any other use than in satisfying his subjects' 
desire of eating and drinking, he may be certain of in- 
curring their hatred, and of being deposed. Letters of 
complaint will be written against him to the general supe- 
rior at Rome, and false accusations will be brought for- 
ward to hasten his ruin. If he continue obstinate in his 
purpose of withholding the desired sumptuous entertain- 
ments, attempts will even be made on his life. Examples 
of the latter method of avenging the wrongs of the belly 



120 SIX YEARS IN THE 

arc numerous ; but I shall relate only one, which fell 
under my own observation. 

In the convent of the Capuchins at Rome, the usual 
number of courses every day is four for dinner, and two 
for supper, with a plentiful supply of wine, fruit, confec- 
tions, &c. ; though on feast-days, and other solemn occa- 
sions, the above number is increased as far as twelve, and 
sometimes twenty ! Repairs being wanted to one of the 
wings of the convent, Cardinal Micara, who was general 
of the order at the time the things I am going to relate 
happened, determined upon withholding some of the 
usual courses, and apply the money thereby saved toward 
paying the expenses of the requisite repairs. Presuming 
on his authority as general of the order, and supposing 
that no one would have the boldness to dispute the will 
of a cardinal, he thought it needless to consult the other 
friars, or to ask their consent, on the proposed measure. 
How much he overvalued his authority and the deference 
due to him as a cardinal, was proved in the sequel. The 
friars were astonished the first day that his decision be- 
gan to be put in practice, to find themselves put off with 
two dishes for dinner, and only one for supper. Yet they 
allowed it to pass over in silence, imagining that it was 
caused by some extraordinary scarcity of provisions in 
the market. The next day came, and the same number 
of courses were served up as the day before. This was 
followed by murmurs and whispers among themselves. 
They at last came to the determination, and agreed to 
rise in a body, and demand the reason of this unusual 
proceeding, should it be repeated on the third day. The 
third day came, and with it the same dinner as the two 
former. At a signal before agreed upon, each and every 
one arose from his seat, and clamorously demanded the 
reason of being obliged to dine on two courses, contrary 
to the rules and regulations of the convent. The supe- 
rior endeavoured to appease the tumult, and began to ex- 
plain that such was the general's order; but had not pro- 
ceeded far in his discourse, when he received a blow from 
a bottle thrown at him by some invisible hand, which 
stunned him and soon covered him over with blood and 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 121 

wine ; the bottle having been broken against his head. 
The confusion now became general ; bottles, decanters, 
tumblers, plates, and dishes, flew about in all directions. 
The superior, after recovering a little from his blow, 
thought it the best plan to make good his escape, which 
he at length effected, after receiving a few more wounds 
from the missiles that were thrown at him. He pro- 
ceeded to the cardinal's apartment, and related to him 
what was going on in the refectory. The cardinal has- 
tened to the scene of action, but his presence was hailed 
by a volley of jugs, and tumblers, and he also was very 
glad to run for his life, after receiving three cuts — one of 
them from a knife — which confined him to his bed for 
some weeks after. On regaining his own apartment, he 
despatched one of his servants for the police, who imme- 
diately surrounded the convent, and through their exer- 
tions peace was in some degree restored. There was 
much blood spilt, and not few of the combatants carry 
marks of the wounds received in this engagement to this 
day, if they be living, and I have little doubt but they 
are. The convent was placed under an interdict, till the 
ringleaders could be discovered. The affair was very 
soon spread through the whole city, and found its way 
into the French newspapers. It was afterward made the 
subject of a tragi-comic opera, and acted with great ap- 
plause at many of the French theatres. The principal 
and leading character in the play was Cardinal Micara, 
dressed in the habit of his order. In the first act, he is 
represented plotting with other aged monks against the 
bellies of his subjects, and bargaining with the undertaker 
for the repairs of the convent. The second act introduces 
the assembly of monks laying plans for resisting the in- 
roads made on their daily allowance of delicacies, and 
binding themselves by a solemn engagement, ratified by 
a glass of wine, to resist to the last. The third and last 
act represents the scene of action ; the coming of the 
cardinal into the refectory, his sermon on obedience, his 
wounds, his flight, &c. This monkish brawl was fol- 
lowed by a serious injury to the private interest of the 
cardinal ; for he was obliged to resign his office of nun- 

12 



122 SIX YEARS IN THE 

cio to the court of St. Cloud, to which he was appointed 
by Leo XII. some time before. He was well aware, that 
the scandalous scene, in which he bore so conspicuous a 
part, would not be very easily erased from the minds of 
the French, and consequently, not to put himself in the 
way of ridicule, he very prudently resigned his nuncia- 
ture.* 

The refectory is also the place where the young monk 
learns, from the example of others, to murmur against and 
calumniate his absent acquaintances. No people are so 
given to backbiting and detraction as monks, and none 
exercise it so freely as they do, whenever an opportunity 
presents itself. In the refectory especially, whenever read- 
ing is dispensed with — and this very frequently happens 
five days in the week perhaps — their conversation is made 
up entirely of criticism on the conduct and actions of some 
unfortunate monk of their acquaintance, who is not pre- 
sent to defend himself. If an indifferent person were 
present, or one unacquainted with monachism, and its cus- 
toms, he would imagine that the person on whom the con- 
versation turns, is a monster of iniquity, and unfit to bear 
the name of man. Indeed, it seems, that the chief end for 
which they were created, was for giving pain to their 
fellow creatures ; and if it were, they could not pursue a 
better course than the one daily followed to arrive at 
that end. A subject for conversation being started by the 
superior, perhaps, relative to the conduct of Father This, or 
Brother That, every one hastens to make his own remarks 
upon it, and draws forth from his retentive memory some 
past failing or other of the unfortunate monk's. Thus 
they continue eating and murmuring, drinking and ca- 
lumniating, till the signal is given for returning thanks. 
Then all arise, and the superior begins the form of prayer 
for the occasion with the words, " tu autem, Domine, 
miserere nobis," " pity us, O Lord ;" as if the Lord 

* The above description of the drama I had from a French gentle- 
man, who assured me, that he himself saw it acted on the theatre of 
Marseilles. I have no reason to doubt the truth of his assertion, 
though I never saw a copy of it myself, nor ever knew any other 
person who saw it acted. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 123 

could be pleased with men whose only and greatest plea- 
sure lies in gratifying the brutal passions of eating to 
excess, drinking in proportion, and tearing asunder the 
characters of their absent brethren. It is not enough for 
them to indulge their bodies in feeding upon the meat 
obtained at the expense of every principle that ennobles 
human nature, but they must also indulge their spleen 
and rancour— the most hateful passions of the mind — in 
taking away the good name of some of their fellow victims 
— for they are all victims to the detestable, unchristian 
system of monkery. Nor let it be thought too bold an 
assertion to say, that their meat or living is obtained at 
the " expense of every principle that ennobles human 
nature ;" for what can be more debasing to the human 
mind, than to yield an implicit, blind obedience to one 
who, it feels conscious, very often commands things quite 
at variance with its own innate sense of right ? Is not 
the whole life of a monk one uninterrupted scene of lies 
and imposition ? Is he not daily acting the part of an 
impostor and hypocrite, when, at the command of an 
atheistical superior, he teaches doctrines in which he 
does not believe himself? And to what else do all these 
labours and pains in the service of Satan, and in bringing 
the souls of his fellow men under the grasp of that 
enemy — to what else, I say, do they tend than to obtain 
wherewithal to satisfy the factitious and artificial wants 
of inordinate desires ? To supply the refectory with 
more than is often thought necessary for the tables of 
princes ! If this be not obtaining bread at the sacrifice 
of virtue and truth, I do not know what is ! Human na- 
ture is therefore debased, and he cannot be a good monk, 
who does not sacrifice every generous feeling, every prin- 
ciple, by which man is rendered superior to the brute, at 
the monstrous shrine of monkery. 

I have already, in another part of this book, given some 
examples of the evil effects following persecution ; I shall 
now relate one illustrative of another branch of persecu- 
tion — calumny or backbiting, to wit ; which is near akin 
to persecution, with this sole difference, that the latter is 
conducted openly, and in the face of all, whereas the 



124 SIX YEARS IN THE 

former is carried on privately, and the subject of it very 
seldom becomes aware of his danger till he finds himself 
on the brink of ruin. 

A young monk, whose name I do not now recollect, 
though I was slightly acquainted with him, being sent by . 
the general to preach at a village in -the Campagna di 
Roma, took up his residence at the house of a respectable 
inhabitant of that village, where there was a young woman, 
a daughter of the master of the house. It happened that 
he fell dangerously ill before the end of the lent,* and 
being unable to remove to his convent, he was obliged to 
remain at the forementioned house till after his recovery. 
During his illness he was treated with the greatest atten- 
tion by every member of the family, and by no one more 
so than by the young woman who was the mistress of it ; 
her mother being dead. On being reinstated in health, 
he was diffuse in his thanks to the gentleman and his 
daughter for their kind treatment ; and as a more substan- 
tial proof of his gratitude, he presented the latter with 
a valuable gold ring, which he bought designedly for that 
purpose. But that ring was the beginning of his misfor- 
tunes. The young woman, not even thinking, at this 
time, of any thing improper, made no secret of the ring, 
and showed it to a great many of her acquaintances, and 
among others, she showed it to another monk of the same 
order with him from whom she got it. He being a private 
enemy of the other, and only waiting for an opportunity 
of bringing something forward that might injure him, soon 
told it to a second with some additions ; the second then 
told it to a third, and it went from one to another in this 
way, until it became at length the table talk of the entire 
province. It at last reached the general's ears only a few 
days before the young monk himself was publicly up- 
braided by one of the other monks with whom he had 
some falling out, with having debauched the young 

* Lent is the only season of the year in which there are sermons 
every day in the churches of Italy. At other times, except a panegyric 
on a saint, or sermon in praise of the Madonna, the entire devotion 
of the people is spent on the dramatic mummery of the mass, or some 
other unscriptural ceremony. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 125 

woman, and of having given her a ring in token of his 
love. This accusation, of which he knew himself inno- 
cent, struck him speechless, and his silence was construed 
by the others into a tacit confession of his guilt. He 
was sent for, to make his appearance at Rome before the 
general, and answer the accusation. He appeared, and 
denied having had intercourse with the young woman, 
requesting at the same time to know the authors of the 
calumny. The general repljed, that the ring which he 
had given her was a sufficient proof of his guilt, and that 
the young woman herself confessed to her father, that she 
was with child, and that she had been violated by him. 
The young $nan knew not what to do, and being unable 
to bring forward any thing in proof of his innocence, he 
was suspended from the priesthood, and sent a prisoner 
to the dungeon of the inquisition at Corneto, there to live 
confined the remainder of his life. His innocence, how- 
ever, afterward appeared, for the young woman, brought 
to the grave in giving birth to a child, being seized with 
remorse, confessed publicly before her death, that she had 
falsely accused the young monk, and that she had been 
betrayed by another young man, who paid his addresses 
to her, and afterward deserted her. She also confessed 
that she laid the crime of seduction to the charge of the 
monk, being excited to do so by her confessor, who told 
her that she would be received into a nunnery after the 
birth of her child, if she could prove that she had been 
violated by an ecclesiastic. The most extraordinary cir- 
cumstance in this story is, that the confessor who gave 
the young woman this perfidious advice, turned out to be 
the young monk's secret enemy, and the most active pro- 
pagator, and indeed the first inventor, of this most scandal- 
ous falsehood. So much for the conscience of confessors, 
who hold the office of judges between God and man ! 
The young monk was afterward released from prison, 
and obtained leave from the pope to leave the order 
altogether. What became of him after his secularization, 
I never could learn, as he quitted the Roman state and 
retired to Lombardy, his native province. 

This young man's character was torn asunder a mil- 

12* 



126 SIX YEARS IN THE 

lion of times in every refectory of the province, before 
the false accusation reached his own ears ; and I remem- 
ber to have seen joy sparkling in the eyes, and breaking 
forth from the countenances of his fiend-like calumnia- 
tors, while discussing this, to them, pleasing subject. 
Many other crimes were also laid to his charge, which 
never existed but in the treacherous minds of his ac- 
cusers and calumniators. They knew very well, that 
if the first accusation could be made good, all other ac- 
cusations, however improbable they might be, would be 
easily credited. They, therefore, in order to satisfy their 
malicious dispositions, and to give food to their hellish 
appetite for the misery of others, scruplednnot to lay to 
the charge of one that never offended or injured them, 
crimes of the most enormous dye — and all this for the 
fiendish satisfaction of triumphing over a fallen brother, 
whom they should rather have endeavoured to reform 
than to calumniate — if they were possessed of the small- 
est particle of that to which they so audaciously lay 
claim — gospel perfection. 

Another subject of discussion in the refectory is the 
quality of the food, and the manner in which it is prepared. 
Many monks are excellent cooks, and though they do 
not perform the laborious part of cookery, yet they give 
their directions and superintend the business of the 
kitchen with great attention — much greater perhaps than 
they bestow upon the works of the ministry. There is 
always appointed in each convent a superintendent of 
the cooking department, or clerk of the kitchen, whose 
duty it is to give directions to the lay-brothers, who are 
the working cooks, of the manner in which such and 
such dishes should be prepared, and according as he may 
perform this office to the satisfaction of the other monks, 
his future promotion to the higher dignities of the order 
depends. If dinner be badly prepared, a general mur- 
mur ensues, and the poor cook is immediately called 
upon to render an account of his want of attention. If 
he can give no satisfactory reason for the soup's being too 
salt, or badly tasted, or the meat's being over-boiled, or 
half-raw, he is liable to be instantly punished by the 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 127 

superior. Sometimes the clamour against him is so 
great, especially if he should fail in his cooking two or 
three times successively, that the monks inflict punish- 
ment on him with their own hands, and thus, in a sum- 
mary way, take vengeance for the trespasses, which his 
carelessness or want of skill committed against their 
palates. This, however, seldom occurs, as they usually 
leave it to the superior to decree what punishment is due 
to so great an offender. The punishment more fre- 
quently inflicted on him is the discipline, and bread and 
water for dinner, which he must eat on his knees. The 
discipline is a sort of punishment which cannot but 
appear strange to the generality of people in this country ; 
it may not then be thought foreign to the subject to give 
a short description of it, especially as it is only among 
monks that bad cooking is punished with the lash. 
* The monk, having received his sentence while on his 
knees in front of the seat occupied by the superior, kisses 
the ground in token of humility and obedience. He 
then retires to the farthest corner of the refectory, and 
kneeling down, draws his habit over his head, by which 
his bare back is exposed, and with a cord prepared for 
that purpose, begins the act of flagellation, singing in 
the mean time the " Miserere ;" which being finished, he 
draws down the habit again, and having put it in order, 
proceeds to the head of the table, where the superior is 
seated, and asks pardon, first from him, and then of the 
other monks, for the fault he had committed. He then 
returns to his own place, and taking the bread and water 
from the table, he places them before him, and having 
first asked leave from the superior, commences his dinner. 
The other monks all this time continue in their seats, 
and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing him punished, with 
feelings rendered still more hostile by having their dinner 
spoiled through the culprit's carelessness. 

This punishment is seldom inflicted for any other fault 
than that of bad cooking. Indeed, this is considered one 
of the greatest crimes of which a monk can be guilty, 
and is, therefore, punished with unusual severity. If, 
however, the cook should still continue to send to the 



128 SIX YEARS IN THE 

table badly cooked or unsavoury dishes, he is then dis- 
missed altogether from that office, as being one incapable 
of performing it, and transferred to some other of less 
responsibility ; or if he is not professed, he is dismissed 
from the order altogether, as one likely to be of no ad- 
vantage to it. 

The lent, or lents, for some orders have more than 
one, are passed in the same round of feasting as any 
other part of the year. The only difference is, that fish 
takes the place of flesh. If the .expense be looked to, 
a dinner of the former is far more expensive than one of 
the latter. The same number of dishes is served up, 
consisting of different kinds of fish, or if different kinds 
cannot be obtained either for love or money, then the 
same kind, but prepared in different ways, is used. Boil- 
ed, fried, roasted, and stewed fish is often served up at 
the same meal The soup — an indispensable article ip. 
an Italian dinner — is in lent composed of rice boiled in 
almond-milk, which is so very dear, as only to be used 
as a delicacy at the table of the rich ; yet monks, who by 
their vows are sworn to observe a life of poverty and 
abstinence, think it no sin to vie with the rich in delica- 
cies of this kind. Supper in lent, or collation as it is 
called on account of its being something less than an 
ordinary supper, i. e. a monk's supper, consists of only 
one plate of fish and some salad. Monks make a great 
noise in the world about their fasting and abstinence, and 
about the severity with which lent is observed within the 
walls of their convent ; but a peep within the scene will 
soon convince any unprejudiced observer, that their fast- 
ings, &c. like many other of their practices, cannot bear 
the public eye. They, therefore, put on mortified coun 
tenances when they go out, and report in every place 
they visit, that their diet in lent is wholly made up of oil 
and herbs ; thus adding lying, as they usually do in other 
things, to hypocrisy in this, also. So far from the ob- 
servance of lent being considered as a penance, many of 
them, who prefer fish to flesh-meat, long for its arrival, 
being sure of satisfying their desire of eating at that time, 
with more gout than at any other season of the year. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 129 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Effects of bad example — Its effect on the Author's mind — He seeks 
the advice of his confessor — The confessor's apology for the vices 
of his order — A word of advice from the same for the Author's pri- 
vate use — Tampering with the consciences of others, as practised 
in the confessional — The Author practises upon his confessor's ad- 
vice — Falls into infidelity — Argues publicly against the existence of 
God — Becomes an object of suspicion to his fellow monks — Search 
made in his room for heretical books and papers — Johnson's Dic- 
tionary convicted of heresy — Ordination — Number of orders in the 
Romish church — In what the candidate for ordination is examined 
— Character of Monsignor Maeioti, Suffragan-bishop of Villetri — 
Episcopus in partibus. 

In such a school as this the young monk, just freed 
from the restraint in which he had been held during the 
year of probation, soon learns to forget whatever good 
principles he may have imbibed from the precepts and 
instruction of his master-novice. Those instructions, 
though tending to form erroneous ideas of things, and to 
judge falsely of matters bearing a near relation to the good 
of society, and to his own eternal welfare, were at least 
clothed in the garb of truth, and had the power of restrain- 
ing him in some degree from open acts of impiety. But 
the evil doings of the other monks, their murmurings, 
their love of defamation, their insatiable desire of indulg- 
ing in sensual gratifications, especially in those of the 
table, and their lukewarm, not to call it impious manner, 
of going through the services, which are intended, how- 
ever erroneously, for the worship of God ; all these 
things united, soon make him throw aside, as useless, the 
principles of a religious life which he had imbibed* and 
plunge headlong into the vortex of corruption and irre- 
ligion, in which his fellow monks are so deeply sunk. 
He may at first, perhaps, take but little part in the petty 
brawls and quarrels which agitate his brethren, and may 
be too scrupulous in doing gratuitous injury to those from 
whom he has received none ; but after some years', nay, 



130 SIX YEARS IN THE 

months' practice and daily example set him by others, he 
will soon, too soon, take an active part in these scenes, 
and make himself a ringleader in the practice of those 
very things which at first appeared to him so sinful, so 
disgusting, and so unbecoming the character of men who 
are dedicated to the service of God, and to the preaching 
of his laws to their fellow men. But as a bad tree cannot 
bring forth good fruit, so also monkery, essentially bad 
in itself, cannot possibly be followed by any other effects 
than what flow from the corrupt fountain of unrestrained 
human passions, and from the practice of a false system 
of religion. 

When first introduced into such scenes as these de- 
scribed in the last chapter, I really imagined myself re- 
moved into a different sphere of existence altogether. I 
could hardly conceive it possible, that men, whose osten- 
sible object in life is the service of God, and the edifica- 
tion of God's people, could act in a way diametrically 
opposite to the fulfilment of that object. Farther expe- 
rience soon convinced me that God and his service took 
up the smallest portion of their thoughts, and that self, 
and the gratification of their passions, were the things 
which each and every one had most at heart. I soon 
became convinced that the religious habit was used as a 
cloak to cover over their detestable vices, and that the 
preaching of God's word, and the administration of church 
rites, were used as instruments, through the medium of 
which they might more easily attain their desired ends. 
In place of realizing a quiet, holy, undisturbed life, which 
I so fondly anticipated, I found that such a life would be 
more practicable in the midst of worldly pursuits than in 
the society of monks ; and that a religious, serious deport- 
ment, so far from obtaining for its possessor love and 
esteem, among them would only procure him hatred and 
ridicule. What my feelings must have been on thus 
finding my long cherished hopes of happiness in the 
monastic life, totally destroyed by becoming practically 
acquainted with that life itself, and how I must have re- 
gretted the vow which I had a little before taken, of adher- 
ing to it for ever, thereby leaving to myself no opening 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 131 

for retraction, may be more easily imagined than de- 
scribed. I, for a long time, wished to persuade myself, 
so loath was I to be undeceived, that things which ap- 
peared to me evil and indecorous, may be in themselves 
harmless, or at least, indifferent, and that the evil of 
them consisted more in my manner of viewing them than 
in the things viewed. But this deception of my better 
judgment could not last for ever, for the more I observed 
them, the stronger grew the opinion of their being any 
thing but in accordance with the precepts of revealed, 01 
even of natural religion. I began, therefore, to judge 
more freely of the morals of my brethren, and to feel 
satisfied that their manner of living must appear unbecom- 
ing and indecorous to any one, judging it even by the 
standard of natural morality, not to mind the more rigor- 
ous standard of Divine revelation. These opinions so 
long resisted, and considered as temptations of the devil, I 
now, that I could resist them no longer, thought it advi- 
sable to lay before my confessor, while seated in his tri- 
bunal — the confessional, and ask his advice thereon. I 
had not, at this time, entertained the smallest doubt of the 
truth and holiness of all and every doctrine of the church 
of Rome, nor did it once enter my mind, that the cause 
of the evil lives of the monks should be attributed to the 
corrupt form of religion which they professed, and of 
which they were the ministers. Had such thoughts oc- 
curred, I should have resisted them as temptations from 
the evil one, indeed. I had then little imagined that a 
time would come when it would please the Almighty to 
dispel darkness from my benighted sou], and show me 
the way in which he loves to be worshipped, and from 
which way no bad effects can follow. But this happened 
many years after. Believing, firmly believing, indeed, 
in the Divine institution of auricular confession, as one of 
the infallible doctrines of Rome, and convinced that it 
was the only safe method by which sinners could be re- 
lieved of their doubts and fears, and that through it remis- 
sion of sins is really obtained, I approached, with reve- 
rential awe, the judgment seat of the priest, having already 



132 SIX TEARS IN THE 

resolved to make the sins of others, and not my own, the 
subject of my confession — to lay before him my thoughts, 
my opinions, my judgment, and my temptations con- 
cerning the conduct of the other monks. He heard me 
very patiently to the end, and then replied, Jirst, that the 
tribunal of penance was the place for hearing the sinner 
confess the sins committed by himself, and not for 
hearing a sinner accusing fellow sinners of sin ; "but," 
continued he, " as I have heard you so far, and as you 
have asked my judgment — not opinion, (this was said in 
character,) on the bad customs and evil practices of our 
brethren, I must acknowledge that their general conduct 
is not in accordance with a life of gospel purity, which 
their sacred character of priests obliges them to attain, and 
that when examined by the standard of gospel morality, 
it must appear to every observer in the same sinful light 
it has appeared to you. But, dear brother, we must con- 
sider that monks are also men, as well as those living in 
the world, and that he * who goes about like a roaring 
lion, seeking whom he may devour,' takes more plea- 
sure in tempting them than in tempting others ; and that, 
withdrawing from the world and dedicating themselves to 
the worship of God do not necessarily include a freedom 
from those passions to which all men, more or less, are 
subject." He finished his apology for their vices by a 
word of advice directed to myself, the sum of which was, 
" that I should be cautious how I showed any sign of 
disgust or dislike at the conduct of others ; and that now 
was the time, while young, of conciliating the favour 
of my brethren, by overlooking their faults, and charita- 
bly attributing them to an erroneous judgment, and the 
weakness of human nature, and not to premeditated in- 
tention of offending God, and injuring their fellow men. 
If I acted otherwise, it would be the cause of blighting 
my future prospects of arriving at any dignity in the 
order, and would bring down upon me retaliation from 
the persons whose conduct I took the liberty of criticis- 
ing, which would very probably cause me no small share 
of uneasiness and trouble. " 



MONASTERIES OF ITALJTj ETC. 133 

The foregoing is the substance of the advice, as far as 
I can now recollect, which my confessor thought it his 
duty to give me. By it may be seen the iniquitous tam- 
pering with the consciences of others practised in the 
confessional, and the settled plan of making the fool, 
who bends his knee to that seat of judgment, be recon- 
ciled to every practice, every open immorality of the 
clergy. A minister of Christ, one, too, arrogating to 
himself the representation of the person of Christ in 
his ministerial office, making an apology for the vices 
of his order in the very exercise of that office, is in 
itself horrible ; but when the same minister, not con- 
tent to apologize for vice, also encourages the person, 
whom superstition and a false notion of religion brought 
to his knees, in order to ask advice for his future con- 
duct ; when he encourages and exhorts such a person to 
conform himself to the reigning vices, or at least to give 
them his sanction by passing them over in silence, under 
pain of injuring his future prospects of aggrandizement, 
or of drawing upon himself and incurring the hatred of 
the evil-doers ; when the minister uses his authority as 
representative of Christ in advising — which, from a con- 
fessor, is the same as commanding — such abominable 
things as these, then indeed it must be manifest, to even 
the most incredulous, that popish theory, as well as 
practice, is detestable, and that the confessional, so far 
from being a place wherein the sinner is advised to ab- 
stain from sin, is converted into a place to inculcate the 
precept of sinning. This assertion will perhaps be 
denied by a great many unacquainted with the evil ten- 
dency of popish inventions ; but let those who have 
every day before their eyes the gross immoralities of the 
Romish hierarchy, and who are aware that such immo- 
ralities are the effects of theory, speak and deny the 
truth of it if they can. His apology, however, for the 
vices of the order did not satisfy me, though I was weak 
enough to put in practice his advice. I began to conform 
myself by degrees to the established customs, and, from 
a disgusted spectator, was in a short time changed into 

13 



134 SIX YEARS IN THE 

an animated actor on the theatre of monkery. I soon 
learned to take pleasure in the misfortune of others, and, 
for self-preservation, to attack when attacked, calumniate 
when calumniated, thwart when thwarted, murmur when 
murmured against ; in fine, I arrived at such perfection 
in the art of tormenting, and in the art of sinning, that 
I very soon became the aggressor, without having re- 
ceived any provocation, and was able to beat the most 
experienced among them, at their own weapons. 

From this time I may date my gradual fall into infi- 
delity. I first became lukewarm in the discharge of my 
religious duties ; to this succeeded indifference, and from 
indifference to infidelity it is well known how easy is 
the transition. The study of philosophy, especially that 
part of it called metaphysics, performed an extraordinary 
change in my mind and opinions, and directed my 
thoughts into a channel in which they were unaccustomed 
to run. Every doctrine, however absurd, every story, 
however insulting to reason and wide of probability, was 
swallowed with avidity before ; but now I took pleasure 
in examining for myself, and experienced great joy if I 
could invent some argument by which I might be able 
to prove false or improbable some leading doctrine of 
Christianity. I remember to have about this time — the 
third year of my being a monk — argued and proposed 
objections against the existence of God, in a public dis- 
putation held for that purpose, and to have received great 
applause for causing my opponent — the defender of God's 
existence, (who, by-the-way, had hardly an ounce of 
brains) — to stumble, and be unable to maintain his thesis. 
Though I prefaced my objections with a declaration that 
whatever would be brought forward by me in the heat 
of argument, if contrary to the received doctrine of the 
church, (in which I am a firm believer, I added, hypo- 
critically enough,) should not be considered as my real 
opinions, but used on the present occasion for -the sake 
of exercise in the art of reasoning ; I nevertheless re- 
ceived, with heartfelt delight, the applause received from 
those who saw my stupid adversary unable to confute the 
flimsy and impious sophisms which I urged against his 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 136 

thesis — against the existence of God.* I went farther; 
I even wished to persuade myself that my arguments 
were invincible and unanswerable, and that they proved 
the whole world — from the savage to the philosopher — 
guilty of error on account of giving credit to that which, 
indeed, requires a far greater degree of credulity not to 
believe than to believe. Thus, without understanding 
Christianity, or without knowing more concerning it than 
what can be picked up at the corrupted fountain of popery, 
I was induced, partly through the scandalous lives of 
its ministers — the monks — and partly through giving un- 
restrained liberty to my fancy — not reason, for of that I 
had as little as most modern infidels — to deny, first, the 
doctrines which are the inventions of popery, and which, 
at that time, I was unable to distinguish from genuine 
Christianity; and then, Christianity itself — having cou- 
pled in my own mind Christianity and popery, as if the 
one could not exist without the other ! 

About the beginning of the fifth year of my monkish 
life, very strong suspicions began to be entertained, by 
my brethren, that I was not a firm believer in the doc- 
trines of the Roman Catholic church. These suspicions 
were confirmed by an outward want of attention on my 
part to the practice and ceremonies of religion as exer- 
cised in the convent, and by many unguarded expressions 
which I often allowed to escape me while in conversa- 
tion with those whom I imagined to be, and who really 
were, of my own opinion. Though all monks, or at 
least the greater part of them, are confirmed infidels, 
they yet have a dislike to those who outwardly show 
their unbelief; not that they have themselves any love 

* It is lawful to dispute upon every doctrine of Christianity at the 
public schools in Rome, that is, the fundamental doctrines of that 
religion, as the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the existence of God, 
&c. &c, because such tenets can bear inquiry, and the more they are 
examined, the stronger and firmer will they become ; but equal liberty 
is not granted for disputation upon the peculiar doctrines of the 
church of Rome. Thus, it is unlawful to call into dispute the su- 
premacy of the pope, his infallibility, the divine institution of the 
leading doctrines of the church, &c. &c. ; for these cannot bear in- 
quiry, and must therefore be believed on the ipse dixit of the pope. 



136 SIX YEARS IN THE 

for Christianity, but rather because they fear that an infi- 
del and unbeliever who has not prudence enough to dis- 
guise his real opinions, even in the presence of his 
associates, will not be very zealous in propagating the 
tenets of popery, and in consulting for the good of the 
order — the two things on which their influence over the 
minds of the people, and the emoluments necessary to 
their subsistence, depend. 

One of the monks with whom I had a very close friend- 
ship, and in whom I placed great confidence, informed 
the superior privately, that I was disseminating opinions 
dangerous to the good of the order, and that I had a great 
many heretical books in my room which he did not un- 
derstand, but was sure they could not be good, because 
written in English; and also, that I was continually 
writing and taking extracts from the same books, which, 
if brought to light and examined by some one acquainted 
with the English language, would place beyond all doubt, 
my having fallen off from a steady belief in the doctrines 
of the church. This insidious information increased the 
suspicion which was already but too strong against my 
orthodoxy. Having, however, got a hint of it, and sus- 
pecting that a search in my room for books and papers 
would follow, I thought it prudent to convey my books 
out of the way, and commit to the flames my papers, 
which were chiefly taken up with remarks upon mona- 
chism, satires upon the monks, and extracts from the 
books 1 had in my possession. I then borrowed from 
the convent library four or five feet of theology, two or 
three of councils, as many of morality, and nearly a yard 
of legendary lore, lives of saints, &c, which I conveyed 
into my room, and with them supplied the vacuum left 
by the removal of my own books. The search, as I ex- 
pected, was made some days after, by the professor and 
local superior ; but they could not help laughing, when 
they found nothing but theology, morality, metaphy- 
sics, legends, lives of saints, &c. &c. The only book 
which they made any objection to, and which I thought 
it needless to remove, was a Johnson's Dictionary. This 
immediately was accused of heresy, and why ? Because 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 137 

written in English, and because they could not under- 
stand it.* Poor Samuel Johnson was accordingly seized 
upon, and carried for trial before one of the older monks, 
who had a smattering of English, which he learned from 
some Englishman who kept a shop in Ancona, his native 
town. The old monk, putting on his spectacles with the 
air of an inquisitor, examined it here and there, and cast- 
ing his eyes by chance on the word " Jesuits," which is 
denned by Johnson " a body of monks who presume to 
usurp the name of Jesus" he immediately pronounced 
it heretical. It was then given over to the superior, and 
I thought he was going to commit an auto defe on it, i. e. 
burn it, but this he did not do ; for he only placed it 
under lock and key in the library among the " libri pro- 
libiti" or prohibited books.f The storm passed over in 

* The greatest distrust is held of all English books throughout 
every part of the Roman states. * I once had a bundle of " Galig- 
nani's Messenger" in my hand, which an English friend had lent 
me, and meeting accidentally with the professor, he asked what it 
was. I told him, it was a bundle of English newspapers. He chided 
me for reading such heretical writings, observing that " thousands of 
English heretics go to hell every day" (vanno alia casa del diavola 
ogni giorno.) So much for monkish bigotry, and the effects of the 
unchristian doctrine of exclusive salvation. 

•j- In the library of each convent there is a place set apart for pro- 
hibited books, or those books which are censured by the master of the 
" sacred palace" who is always a Dominican friar. The best books of 
every European language are prohibited, and sentence of excommuni- 
cation passed against all who read them. The titles and the names 
of the authors of such books are collected in one volume entitled " in- 
dex librorum prohibitorum," printed at the Vatican press annually, 
and given away gratis to the different libraries of popish Europe. 
This is also another emolument to the papal see, for the librarians and 
booksellers are commanded neither to lend nor sell prohibited works, 
unless to those who have a written license from the pope to use them. 
This license is never granted till paid for, and thus the obtaining of 
it becomes a source of gain to the " infallible head" of the church. It 
is really astonishing, what a change money is capable of performing! 
It may be asked, whether reading such a booh be sinful or otherwise ; 
if not sinful, why then place a shackle on man's liberty by prohibiting 
it 1 if sinful, how is it possible, that the bestowing a sum of money 
on a self-constituted authority, can make it not sinful ? The reason 
for this, as well as for most other practices of the church of Reme, 
must be sought in the insatiable desire of amassing money by making 

13* 



138 SIX TEARS IN THE 

this way, and indeed, with far less trouble than I at first 
thought it possible, judging from the bigotry of the monks 
and from the great pleasure they are accustomed to feel 
when an opportunity presents of enjoying the misery of 
others. It had even a favourable effect, for, in some de- 
gree, it dissipated the cloud of suspicion that hung over 
me, and made me more cautious in future of reposing 
confidence in the seeming friendship of those, who only 
sought an opportunity to betray. 

About this period, I arrived at the age required by the 
canons for receiving the order of sub-deaconship ; having 
already received the four minor orders.* I was accord- 
ingly sent by the general to Velletri, a city about twenty- 
six miles from Rome, for the purpose of having that 
order conferred upon me by* the bishop of that diocess. 
The candidate for ordination is very strictly examined in 
presence of the bishop on some treatise of dogmatical 
theology, selected for the occasion by the examiners. 

the consciences of Christians a saleable commodity. To this custom 
of prohibiting books, Pope alludes in the following verses : 

Lo ! Rome herself, proud mistress now no more 
Of arts, hut thund'ring against heathen lore ; 
Her grey-haired synods damning hooks unread, 
And Bacon trembling for his brazen head. 
Padua, with sighs, beholds her Livy burn, 
And even the antipodes Virgilius mourn. 

Dunciad. 

• It may not be generally known, that in the Roman Catholir 
church there are seven orders, four of which are called minor orders ; 
Osteriatus, Lectoratus, Exorcistatus, and Acolytatus. These four are 
conferred at a very early age, sometimes before the candidates arrive 
at the age of understanding the meaning of them. They are now in 
practical disuse, being considered as only preparatory to the re- 
ceiving of holy orders ; though in the ancient church, there is reason 
to suppose the offices attached to them were exercised by some pious 
laymen of the church. According to Romish theologians, they were 
instituted by Christ himself, and as proof of their being so, they dis- 
tort some passages of Scripture. The other three, subdeaconship, 
deaconship, and priesthood, are called holy orders. The age at which 
they may be received is fixed by the Council of Trent ; the first at 
twenty-one years, the second at twenty-two, and the third at twenty- 
five ; though the pope has the power of dispensing with eighteen 
months of the latter, which he generally does, if paid for it. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 139 

This takes place not so much for the sake of trying 
whether he is possessed of sufficient information, (the 
ignorant being as often promoted to orders as the learned,) 
as in order to be able to judge of the soundness of his 
views relative to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic 
church. The treatise on which I was examined, seemed 
as if designedly selected for my person, for it was that 
very one about the truth of which I entertained the greatest 
doubts — " the tractatus de ecclesia" or treatise concerning 
the authority and power of the church. The doctrines 
discussed in this treatise being once established on a sure 
foundation, all the other unscriptural doctrines of popery 
cannot be denied, without falling into a contradiction ; for 
if it be once granted that the church has the power of 
directing and fixing the things necessary to be believed 
by the faithful, and of bringing in and mixing up tradition 
with the written Word, and also of explaining that Word 
itself, in favour of some new doctrine ; how, then, with 
any consistency can any one of its tenets be denied ? If 
it be granted with the Italian church, that the pope, in 
his own person, is infallible, or with the Gallican church, 
that a council assembled by authority of the pope cannot 
err ; how then can it be denied afterward, that the things 
held out for belief, and established by a council or a pope, 
though in direct contradiction to the words and sense of 
Divine revelation, are not sound doctrines, and not neces- 
sary to be believed by all who adhere to the church of 
Christ? If the authority of popes and councils be once 
granted to have its claims founded on scriptural grounds, 
then indeed the belief in purgatory, invocation of saints, 
auricular confession, and in all the. other innovations 
made in the Christian faith by popery, must follow, if due 
consistency be attended to. Though fully aware of the 
consequences flowing from the questions proposed to me 
by the examiners on this subject, I yet had the weakness 
to dissemble my real opinions, and answer with the most 
scrupulous orthodoxy — that is, as orthodoxy is understood 
by the Romish church. To this was I. obliged through fear 
of being refused ordination, if I answered otherwise — a 
certain result, followed also by personal danger — and also 



140 SIX TEARS IN THE 

through fear of affording an opportunity to mv Mother 
monks of renewing their former obloquy. I was, tnere- 
fore, approved of and pronounced by the examiners a fit 
subject for promotion to sub-deaconship, my papers be- 
ing first examined, especially the certificate of my baptism, 
in order to be sure of my having reached the canonical 
age. 

Not to revert to this subject again, it may be as well to 
mention here, that one year after this, on reaching my 
twenty-second year, I was ordained deacon by the same 
bishop, after having passed through another examination, 
similar to the one related above. The treatise selected 
on this last occasion was that which every Italian priest 
is obliged to almost swear to — the treatise on the infalli- 
bility of the head of the church, as the pope is called. 
This is not pronounced exactly a matter of faith ; for 
then provocation would be given to the Gallican church 
to separate from the Italian, as the former does not be- 
lieve in it ; but it is declared a holy and wholesome doc- 
trine, and next to faith — proxima fidei. I answered on 
this occasion, as on the other, according to the known 
opinion and teaching of the church of Rome, and was so 
hypocritical as to show a holy anger against the boldness 
of the French, who dared call in question a doctrine 
so holy and scriptural. The bishop praised me for my 
zeal, and hoped that when sent and established in my 
own country, I would faithfully preach and propagate the 
doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, and endeavour 
to bring under the obedience of the supreme pontiff — 
(sotto Vubbedienza del summo pontejice, were his words) 
—■the benighted heretics of Ireland, for whose conversion 
he uttered a fervent prayer — more fervently, I presume, 
than they themselves pray for that conversion. Poor 
heretics ! My answer to this holy admonition may be 
easily imagined, and I passed for a pious, orthodox young 
clergyman, and for one who would be very zealous in 
propagating the doctrines of the holy Roman Catholic 
church. So pleased was the bishop with my answers, 
and so well did I act my part, that he invited me to dine 
with him the next day — and gave me a letter of introdue- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 141 

tion to Cardinal Rivarola — who was a particular friend 
of his ; which I was to deliver on my return to Rome. 
It is but just to add, that Monsignor Macioti — for that was 
the name of the bishop of whom I am speaking— was a 
really good and pious man ; and seemed sincere in his 
belief of the doctrines of the church of Rome, and firmly 
convinced that a belief in those doctrines was most essen- 
tial to the salvation of man. He was bishop in partibus 
infidelium,* and only suffragan-bishop of Velletri. The 
diocesan bishop, who was a cardinal, always residing in 
Rome, left him as his suffragan in care of the diocess ; 
and on him, therefore, devolved the whole management 
of the affairs relating to the church of Velletri and its 
dependencies. He had very little of that pride and vain 
glory, which are to be found the principal ingredients in 
forming the character of most popish prelates. He was 
an humble, practical Christian, and if we except his 
bigotry, which was more the fault of the religion he pro- 
fessed than of the man himself, he could have been held 
up as a shining example for the imitation of the ministers 
of Christ. Had he lived in another country, or had he 
been so fortunate as to see the errors of popery, he would 
certainly be considered as one blessed with an abundant 
share of heavenly grace. Unlike most Italian prelates, 
he spent his income on the poor of his flock, and not in 

* Episcopus in partibus infidelium, or bishop in infidel countries, 
is a title given by the pope to the numerous bishops without diocesses 
who surround his throne. Whenever the pope wishes to exalt and 
do honour to a favourite ; or when a priest of a rich and noble family- 
is fool enough to throw away a large sum of money for a dignity, he 
is consecrated bishop of some place, taken at hazard from the map of 
the world, over which the pope, as universal pastor, claims authority. 
Thus, one is made bishop of some of the South Sea Islands, while 
another obtains a diocess in Crim Tartary. They never see their dio- 
cesses, nor do they ever trouble their heads about them ; some of them 
often not knowing in what part of the world the place from which 
they take their title is situated ! They bargained for the empty title, 
and that they have got — ilfumo senza Varrosto — the smoke without 
the roast — as the Italian proverb has it. The pope thus bestowing 
bishopricks on his courtiers strongly resembles the valorous knight 
Don Quixote bestowing the government of islands on his squire 
Sancho Panza. 



142 SIX YEARS IN THE 

indulging in the pleasures of the table, and other luxuries. 
While other bishops might be found at the conversazioni 
and entertainments of the great, or gallanting, in the 
character of cicesbei, the wives of their acquaintances, his 
post was at the bedside of some dying beggar ; endeavour- 
ing to alleviate his sufferings, and administering the con- 
solations which religion, however corrupt it may be, 
always affords to the last moments of a departing sinner. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Jealousies and enmities of monks of different orders — Reasons for 
entertaining such hostile feelings against each other — Sample of 
monkish lampoons — The immaculate conception of the blessed 
Virgin — The Dominicans and Franciscans declare war against each 
other — Monkish imposture — Tragic story of Jetzer — The ghost of 
a Dominican appears to him — Jetzer undergoes the discipline, in 
order to redeem his brother's soul from purgatory — The virgin 
prior — Revelations made by the Virgin to Jetzer — He receives the 
five wounds that pierced Jesus on the cross — Jetzer discovers the 
imposture — The Dominicans attempt to poison him — He flies from 
them, and seeks the protection of the civil authorities — The actors 
in the infernal plot burned alive — Jetzer's death — The use which 
the Franciscans make of the foregoing narrative — Number of re- 
ligious orders — How distinguished from each other — Division of 
monks — Number of the clergy in the capital of popery — Number 
of beggars. 

Though great the enmities and jealousies entertained 
for each other by monks living in the same convent 
and of the same order, far greater still are those they bear 
toward other monks of orders differing from their own. 
The greatest enemies of the same order, who would be 
glad to see each other at the bottom of the sea, forget 
their private quarrels, and unite their strength in attacking 
the common enemy — another religious order. To this 
they are excited both by the prejudices of their monkish 
education, which leads them to consider their own order 
as the one most pleasing to God, and also, by a fear of 
losing their emoluments, and the means of supporting 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 143 

luxury, if another order should rank higher in the opinion 
of the world than their own. Monks of different orders 
can hardly observe the rules of common politeness, and 
keep themselves within the bounds of civility when they 
meet. They eye each other with looks of mortal defiance, 
and let no opportunity slip of heaping calumny on each 
other, and of turning into ridicule the manners and cus- 
toms of each other's order. If the Franciscan should 
have an image or relic in his convent, which is thought 
an object of greater veneration by the people than some 
other relic or image of the Dominican's, the latter never 
loses an opportunity of crying down the worth of the 
former's property and extolling his own. It is a common 
saying, " two of a trade can never agree." This proverb 
is verified by those traders in imposition. The Augus- 
tinian hates the Carmelite, the Carmelite the Augustinian ; 
the Augustinian the Dominican and the Franciscan ; one 
branch of the Franciscans hates another branch of the 
same ; the Reformed hating the Capuchin, and the Capu- 
chin the Observant ; and in this way they live, hating each 
other, and trying to debase each other's order, while they 
extol their own, and all for the sake of bringing money 
into their own coffers, and of making the people imagine 
that there can be no degree of merit attached to any order, 
but to that of which they themselves are members. When 
this opinion once prevails, and gains ground in the minds 
of the people, then indeed those who were so fortunate 
as to establish and propagate it, may triumph over the 
other orders, and may be sure of obtaining that support 
which follows from the blind devotion of a superstitious 
peasantry. Many monks are so zealous in contending 
for the good of their own order, that they make no 
scruple to compose satires, and even obscene hymns, 
against the other orders, and distribute copies of them 
privately among the people ; for they imagine that the 
more the other orders are lessened in the esteem of the 
populace, the more will their own grow in that esteem. 
I have seen a "prayer" composed in Latin by a Domini- 
can friar, in order to turn into ridicule, and bring oppro- 
brium on the Capuchins, who had a convent in the same 



144 SIX TEARS IN THE 

town, (Albano,) and who ranked higher in the opinion of 
the public than his own order. It was handed about by 
the Dominicans, and at last reached the hands of a secular 
priest, who had a friendship for the Capuchins, and by 
him it was shown to their superior, who complained 
against the author to the court of Rome. As far as I can 
now recollect, for I have not by me a copy of it, it ran 
thus : — " Deus, qui malignos Capucinos in hoc mundo 
scaturire fecisti ad destructionem mulierum, olei, vini, 
panis, caeterorumque tuorum comestibilium, extende super 
eos, te quesumus, manum tuae potentiae, da illis morbum 
Gallicum, et deduc eos in profundum lacum, ubi remaneant 
per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen." (O G — d, who 
hast made the malignant Capuchins spring up in this 
world, for the destruction of women, bread, oil, wine, 
and of thy other eatables ; extend over them, we beseech 
thee, the hand of thy power, give them the * * * disease, 
and sink them into the deep lake, where may they remain 
for ever and ever. . Amen.) I have deemed it necessary 
to give this blasphemous prayer — highly blasphemous 
indeed — in order that the reader may be able to form 
a judgment of the wicked devices which monks have re- 
course to, when the desire of aggrandizing their own 
order, and of bringing it into repute, impels them to ridi- 
cule, and thereby debase, (though often at the expense of 
truth, and of doing injury to their fellow creatures,) the 
orders of other monks. It also may show the little venera- 
tion in which God is held by them, when they dare take 
in vain his name, and apply it in so unseemly a manner. 
It is true, that the Capuchins, and indeed all monks, give 
sufficient provocation to wish them badly ; and to en- 
deavour, for the sake of society, to expose their evil 
doings ; but yet this need not be done in the blasphemous 
manner which we see here practised ; and practised too 
by those who are as deep in iniquity as the very persons 
whom they censure. 

The well-known dispute between the Dominicans and 
>-! Franciscans relating to the immaculate conception of the 
Virgin Mary, was carried on by these two orders for 
many years with an equal degree of vehemence on both 






MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 145 

sides. The question, uninteresting as it may appear, 
and as it really is, whether the Virgin Mary was born 
without the blemish of original sin, or not, employed 
the pens and talents of the greatest men of these orders 
for many years, and bid fair to disturb the peace, not 
only of the members of each order, but also of the whole 
Roman Catholic church. No arguments were left un- 
tried, no schemes were left unpractised, by the contend- 
ing parties, to prove one another guilty of heresy, and 
thereby to bring on the conquered side the opprobrium 
attached to the name of heretics. It is not to be sup- 
posed that they cared a fig whether the Virgin was, or 
was not, immaculately born ; but the question was start- 
ed, a different side was taken by each, and the honour 
of their respective orders, and the maintenance of its 
respect with the people, required that each party should 
defend, with all its might, the side of the question it had 
adopted. The tragic story of Jetzer, conducted at Bern, 
in 1509, for determining this uninteresting dispute, is 
well known to the world. I shall, however, take the 
liberty of relating it here, in order to give the reader, 
who may not have heard it before, a view of the impious 
frauds which have been carried on in the church of Rome, 
and of the little regard which monks pay to the means 
so that they obtain their end. 

The Franciscans maintained that the Virgin Mary was 
born without the blemish of original sin ; the Dominicans 
asserted the contrary. The doctrine of the Franciscans, 
in an age of darkness and superstition, could not but be 
popular, and hence the Dominicans lost ground from day 
to day. To support the credit of their order, they re- 
solved, at a chapter held at Vimpson, in the year 1504, 
to have recourse to fictitious visions and dreams, in which 
the people at that time had an easy faith, and they de- 
termined to make Bern the scene of their operations. A 
lay-monk named Jetzer, who was extremely simple, and 
much inclined to austerities, and w.ho belonged to their 
order, was chosen as the instrument of the delusions they 
were contriving. One of the four Dominicans, who had 
undertaken the management of this plot, conveyed him- 

14 



146 SIX YEARS IN THE 

self secretly into Jetzer's cell, and about midnight ap- 
peared to him in a horrid figure, surrounded with howl- 
ing dogs, and seemed to blow fire from his nostrils, 
by the means of a box of combustibles which he held 
near his mouth. In this frightful form he approached 
Jetzer's bed, told him that he was the ghost of a Domi- 
nican who had been killed at Paris, as a judgment of 
Heaven, for laying aside his monastic habit ; that he was 
condemned to purgatory for this crime ; adding, at the 
same time, that by his means he might be rescued from 
his misery, which was beyond expression. This story, 
accompanied by horrible cries and howlings, frightened 
poor Jetzer out of the little wits he had, and engaged 
him to promise to do what was in his power to deliver 
the Dominican from his torments. Upon this, the im- 
postor told him, that nothing but the most extraordinary 
mortifications, such as the discipline of the vjhip, per- 
formed during eight days by the whole monastery, and 
Jetzer's lying prostrate, in the form of one crucified, 
in the chapel during mass, could contribute to his de- 
liverance. He added, that the performance of these 
mortifications would draw down upon Jetzer the pecu- 
liar protection of the blessed Virgin, and concluded by 
saying that he would appear to him again, accompanied 
by two other spirits. Morning no sooner came than 
Jetzer gave an account of this apparition to the rest 
of the convent, who all unanimously advised him to 
undergo the discipline that was enjoined him, and 
every one consented to bear his share of the task im- 
posed — that of flogging the poor wretch. The deluded 
simpleton obeyed ; and was admired as a saint by the 
multitudes that crowded about the convent ; while the 
four friars that conducted the imposture magnified, in a 
most pompous manner, the miracle of this apparition, in 
their sermons and in their discourses. The night after, 
the apparition was renewed with the addition of two 
impostors, dressed like devils ; and Jetzer's faith was 
augmented by hearing from the spectre all the secrets of 
his life and thoughts, which the impostors had learned 
from his confessor. In this and some subsequent scenes, 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 147 

equal in enormity to those already related, the impostor 
talked much to Jetzer of the Dominican order, which he 
said was peculiarly dear to the blessed Virgin ; he added, 
that the. Virgin knew herself to be conceived in original 
sin ; that the doctors who taught the contrary were in pur- 
gatory ; that the blessed Virgin abhorred the Franciscans 
for making her equal with her son ; and that the town 
of Bern would be destroyed for harbouring such plagues 
within her walls. In one of these apparitions, Jetzer 
imagined that the voice of the spectre resembled that of 
the prior of the convent, and he was not mistaken ; but 
not suspecting a fraud, he gave little attention to this. 
The prior appeared in various forms, sometimes in that 
of St. Barbara ; at others in that of St. Bernard : at 
length he assumed that of the Virgin Mary, and, for that 
purpose, clothed himself in the habits that were employed 
to adorn the statue of the Virgin on the great festivals. The 
little images that on those days are set on the altars were 
made use of for angels, which, being tied to a cord that 
passed through a pully over Jetzer's head, rose up and 
down, and danced around the pretended Virgin, to in- 
crease the delusion. The Virgin, thus equipped, ad- 
dressed a long discourse to Jetzer, in which, among other 
things, she told him that she was conceived in original 
sin, though she had remained but a short time under that 
blemish. She gave him, as a miraculous proof of her 
presence, a host, or consecrated wafer, which turned from 
white to red in a moment ; and after various visits, in 
which the greatest enormities were transacted, the Virgin 
prior told Jetzer that she would give him the most affect- 
ing and undoubted marks of her son's love, by imprint- 
ing on him the Jive wounds that pierced Jesus on the 
cross, as she had done before to St. Lucia and St. Catha- 
rine. Accordingly, she took his hand by force, and 
struck a large nail through it, which threw the poor dupe 
into the greatest torment. The next night, this mascu- 
line virgin brought, as she pretended, some of the linen 
in which Christ had been buried, to soften the wound ; 
and gave Jetzer a soporific draught, which had in it the 
blood of an unbaptized child, some grains of incense and 



148 SIX YEARS IN THE 

of consecrated salt, some quicksilver, the hair of the 
eyebrows of a child — all which, with some stupifying 
and poisonous ingredients, were mingled together by the 
prior with magic ceremonies, and a solemn dedication of 
himself to the devil in hope of his succour. The draught 
threw the poor wretch into a sort of lethargy, during 
which the monks imprinted on his body the other four 
wounds of Christ in a manner that he felt no pain. 
When he awakened, he found, to his unspeakable joy, 
those impressions on his body, and came at last to fancy 
himself a representative of Christ in the various parts 
of his passion. He was, in this state, exposed to the 
admiring multitude on the principal altar of the convent, 
to the great mortification of the Franciscans. The 
Dominicans gave him some other draughts that threw 
him into convulsions. By means of a pipe placed in the 
mouths of two images, one of Mary and another of the 
child Jesus, the former of which had tears painted upon 
its cheeks in a lively manner, they contrived to make the 
two images speak. The little Jesus asked its mother, by 
means of this voice, (which was that of the prior,) why 
she wept ? and she answered, that her tears were owing 
to the impious manner in which the Franciscans attri- 
buted to her the honour that was due to him, in saying 
that she was conceived and born without sin. 

The apparitions, false prodigies, and abominable stra- 
tagems of these Dominicans were repeated every night ; 
and the matter was at length so grossly overacted, that, 
simple as Jetzer was, he at last discovered it, and had 
almost killed the prior, who appeared to him one night in 
the form of the Virgin with a crown on her head. The 
Dominicans, fearing, by this discovery, to lose the fruits 
of their imposture, thought the best method would be to 
own the whole matter to Jetzer, and to engage him, by 
the most seducing promises of opulence and glory, to 
carry on the cheat. Jetzer was persuaded, or at least 
appeared to be so. But the Dominicans, suspecting that 
he was not entirely gained over, resolved to poison him ; 
but his constitution was so vigorous, that though they 
gave him poison five several times, he was not destroyed 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 149 

by it. One (Jay they sent him a loaf prepared with some 
spices, which growing green in a day or two, he threw 
a piece of it to some dogs that were in the monastery, and 
it killed them immediately. At another time, they poi- 
soned the host, or consecrated wafer ; but as he vomited 
it up soon after he had swallowed it, he escaped once 
more. In short, there were no means of securing him 
which the most detestable impiety and barbarity could 
invent, which they did not put in practice ; till finding, at 
last, an opportunity of getting out of the convent, he 
threw himself into the hands of the magistrates, to whom 
he made a full discovery of this infernal plot. The affair 
being brought to Rome, commissaries were sent from 
thence to examine the matter ; and the whole cheat being 
fully proved, the four friars were solemnly degraded from 
their priesthood, and were burnt alive on the last day of 
May, 1509. Jetzer died some time after, at Constance, 
having poisoned himself, as was believed by some. Had 
his life been taken away before he had an opportunity of 
making the discovery already mentioned, this execrable 
and horrid plot, which, in many of its circumstances, was 
conducted with art, would have been handed down to 
posterity as a stupendous miracle. It is now related by 
the Franciscans to their novices and students, in order to 
excite their hatred against the Dominicans, and to be 
used as an argument in favour of the immaculate concep- 
tion, which they so zealously defend. They say, " that 
such a well-laid plot could never be discovered, were it 
not for the intervention of the Virgin, whose prerogative 
it attempted to impugn, and thereby lessen the praise and 
adoration due to her from the faithful ; that she permitted 
it to proceed so far prosperously, in order to take a 
signal and public vengeance on the machinators, and that 
through her protection Jetzer was preserved from the 
powerful poisonous draughts, which were so often admi- 
nistered to him by his impious brethren."* 

* It ought to be understood, that I have followed, with very few 
variations, the narrative given by Buck, in his " Theological Diction- 
ary," of the above event. It so exactly accords with the account 
given by the Franciscans, and with what I have read in other books, 

14* 



150 SIX YEARS IN THE 

! The great number of religious orders that infest socie- 
ty, and the immense number of individuals attached to 
each order, surpass almost all belief. These orders are 
distinguished from each other by the colour and form of 
their respective habits. Some monks wear a white habit; 
others, a black one ; this order is clad in a brown livery, 
while that other, in a gray or parti-coloured one. Some 
have shoes and stockings, while others place merit in 
going about in sandals, and without stockings. I am not 
aware that any order as yet has placed merit in wearing 
boots ; but the time may come when the pope will 
put his seal of holiness on boots also ! Some orders 
allow their beards to grow, and shave their heads in imi- 
tation of the ancient Magi, whom they much resemble 
in their impositions ; while others, on the contrary, shave 
their beards, and let the hair of their head grow. 
Monks are also divided into three different classes. The 
first class is that of solitaries, who live alone, and are to 
be found only among the Calogeri, or Greek monks, 
especially those inhabiting Mount Athos, in Thessaly, 
called in modern Greek, " opo$ ayios" or the happy moun- 
tain. The Latin church says, that the Trappists, Bene- 
dictines, Camaldolensains, &c, are of the class of soli- 
taries ; but if they are, they must be so, as " lucus a non 
lucendo," for they are to be found in the most populous 
cities of Europe, and very frequently in the coffee-houses, 
and other public places, disputing upon politics, or play- 
ing cards. This does not look very much like the life 
of a solitary ! The second class is called that of cceno~ 
bites, or those living in community, as Franciscans, 
Capuchins, Dominicans, Carmelites, &c. These are the 
bulwarks of the Romish church, and on them the pope 
chiefly depends for upholding his assumed authority. 
The third class is that of scarabites, who have no fixed 
residence, but, after the manner of Mahometan Santoni, 
whom they much resemble, wander through the world, 
leading a gypsical life, and depending upon their success 

that I deemed it needless to niake many" variations, which, indeed, if 
made, would consist more in the manner of relating it than in the 
fact itself. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 151 

in imposing on the people, for support. To this class 
St. Francis belonged, as has been already related, before 
he acquired tact enough to impose effectually on the peo- 
ple, and afterward on the pope himself, by which he 
succeeded in establishing the order which goes under 
his name. 

At Rome especially, are to be found monks of all classes 
and descriptions, and in such numbers, that the stranger 
will be struck with astonishment, and wonder where, or 
how, so great an army of idle, sanctified, dronish vaga- 
bonds can. find support. An English gentleman, residing 
in that city, wishing to make a probable guess at the 
number of clergy with which it is pestered, placed him- 
self in a window looking out upon the Corso— the prin- 
cipal street — and counted the surprising number of one 
hundred passing by, and strolling about for their diversion, 
in the space of fifteen minutes. If to these be added the 
nuns, who would also be strolling about in the street at 
that time, if they had their own will, that is, if they were 
not inhumanly buried alive, and shut up within four 
walls, we may form a tolerably just idea of the whole 
number. Would it be too much to say that they amount 
in all to six thousand ? I think not, and even hazard to 
say that they rather exceed than fall short of that num- 
ber ! Six thousand drones depending for support on a 
population of one hundred and thirty thousand, for the 
fixed inhabitants of Rome do not, absolutely, exceed that 
number ! In winter, certainly, the population is greater ; 
but then, the increase is occasioned by the foreigners, 
who arrive from other parts of Europe, and who scarcely 
ever remain longer than three months. If to the six 
thousand monks, nuns, and secular priests, we add five 
thousand more for beggars, we will then find, that in the 
capital of popery there are eleven thousand useless inha- 
bitants ! Eleven thousand mouths stopped by the sweat 
of the industrious part of the community ! eleven thou- 
sand persons whose only office is imposition, robbing, and 
begging, and who fully come up to Horace's description 
of useless creatures, "nati consumere fruges," "born 
to waste the fruits of the earth" — to eat every thing up, 



152 SIX TEARS IN THE 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Hope of salvation placed in being buried in a Franciscan habit- 
Story of a soul saved from eternal damnation through the merits 
of Saint Francis — Emoluments derived by the monks from the 
popular superstitions — Story of an heir who was struck dead for 
defrauding the Franciscans of their due — Ways practised by 
monks for promoting their own interests — Their tampering with 
the females of those families over which they have acquired influ- 
ence — Story in illustration of the foregoing — Allurements held 
out to females to enter nunneries — Monkish treachery illustrated 
—A young gentleman's own account of the snares laid by monks 
for himself, and his sisters — One of his sisters dies of a broken 
heart on discovering her mistake — Happy termination of the 
young man's misfortunes. 

No small degree of merit is also attached by the be- 
nighted followers of popery to dying and being buried in 
a religious habit. This proceeds from the sermons of 
the monks, and from their gossiping among the pea- 
santry and others. Instead of directing sinners to salva- 
tion through Christ, and exhorting them to have a firm 
reliance upon the vicarious atonement made by Him ; 
their favourite theme is, " the interest which their sanc- 
tified founder has in heaven, and the respect paid by the 
d — 1 to a body dressed up in the habit of the order found- 
ed by him — (St. Francis) — though, perhaps, the former 
might justly claim the honour of having suggested it. 
This respect for their habit is the source of great emolu- 
ment to them, as many who led a life of debauchery and 
wickedness, and many too who led a comparatively vir- 
tuous life, leave by their will a sum of money to that 
body of monks, on whose masses and prayers they rest 
their hopes of salvation. The Franciscan habit is held 
in greater esteem, and consequently is thought to have 
more power of defending the soul from the claws of his 
infernal majesty, than any other. It is, therefore; sought 
after with great eagerness, and that man is thought sure 
of salvation, who is so fortunate as to leave this world 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 153 

covered up in its sacred folds. Many stories are invented 
by the monks, many fables are brought forward as exam- 
ples, by which to prove how acceptable and pleasing to 
the Supreme Being is this soul-destroying superstition. 
From an immense number, one if possible more absurd 
than the other, I will select a few for the satisfaction of 
the reader. 

An Italian count, who, while in health, was the most 
wicked and depraved of all his associates, being at the 
point of death, entreated his confessor, a Franciscan 
monk, to have his body wrapped up after his decease in 
the blessed habit of St. Francis, and in that dress to be 
committed to the grave. The confessor, after administer- 
ing the consolations of religion, and after explaining to 
him the great benefit which would accrue to his soul from 
the protection of St. Francis, always partial to those clad 
in his holy habit, promised to use his influence with the 
prior of his convent, to obtain the power of complying 
with his request. This power was speedily granted ; 
chiefly, it may be suspected, because the dying man had 
left money for the celebration of masses — as auxiliaries 
in saving his soul — for indeed monks are not so exces- 
sively charitable to the souls of others, as to be at any 
loss, even that of a filthy, worn old habit, (for the longer 
it is worn by some holy monk, the greater efficacy is 
attached to it,) without being paid for their trouble and 
loss in some way. Having obtained from his superior 
the desired permission, he returned to the sick man, and 
filled his soul with joy and gladness, while relating the 
favourable result of his mission. The poor sinner, 
placing all his trust and hopes of salvation on the 
holy habit, peaceably expired soon after. Some days 
after his decease, he appeared to his confessor, while 
engaged in prayer at midnight in the church, and re- 
vealed to him, that " he was on the point of being 
condemned to the flames of hell for all eternity, and 
that the demon-executioners were in the act of seizing 
upon his miserable soul, in order to drag it to the 
place of punishment, when the blessed patriarch St. 
Francis made his appearance, and observing what was 



154 SIX YEARS IN THE 

going on, prostrated himself at the throne of justice, and 
begged, that through his merits, and intercession, the 
soul, whose body was clad in his holy habit, and who 
had, while united to it, befriended his beloved disciples 
in the other world, may not suffer for all eternity. 
The Supreme Judge, looking with compassion on the 
tears of his faithful servant, and unable to resist his en- 
treaties, commuted the sentence to a million of years in 
purgatory ; with the clause of being sooner liberated, if 
a sufficient number of masses be celebrated for the repose 
of his soul. The holy St. Francis, having thus suc- 
ceeded in his business of mediator, immediately drove 
away the d — Is, now become enraged on account of 
losing their prey, and conducted the half-redeemed soul 
to purgatory, where he took leave of it, after having first 
obtained permission from the angel-keeper, to allow it to 
ascend once more into the world above, and relate the 
whole affair to his confessor, and request of him to speak 
to his son and heir, and urge him to give apart of his for- 
tune to be laid out on more masses for the repose of his 
father's soul." Having made this relation, the holy soul 
redeemed from everlasting torments by the habit of St. 
Francis, disappeared and returned to its place .of tempo- 
rary punishment. 

Will it be thought possible, that such a story as this, 
such a barefaced, impious falsehood — could be intro- 
duced into a sermon by any Christian minister? To 
those unacquainted with the extent of monkish impos- 
tures, it will indeed, appear, if not impossible, at least 
improbable ; yet I have both read it in some legend of 
saints, and heard it afterward related in the Capuchin 
church of Frascati, in presence of an assembled multi- 
tude. The life of St. Francis formed the subject of the 
sermon, and the foregoing story was brought forward in 
proof of that saint's power in the court of the Almighty. 

It is evidently invented for the purpose of increasing 
and strengthening the popular belief in the sanctity of the 
Franciscan habit ; and of showing forth the great help 
for obtaining salvation and appeasing the Divine wrath 
which that habit affords to those, who depart this life 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 155 

clad in its sacred folds. The apparition being made to 
declare the good effects to the souls in purgatory, pro- 
ceeding from offering masses in their behalf, and his 
own expectations from the piety of his son, is but a 
Jesuitical way of picking the pockets of the hearers, and 
of exciting them to spend more money on the celebration 
of masses, for the repose of the souls of their departed 
friends. It may also be a plan (if, indeed, the story has 
any foundation whatever in truth) for extorting more 
money from the count's son, by thus laying open to him 
the miserable state of his father, and the means of short- 
ening the time of his punishment in purgatory. 

There is another story related by the monks, vieing 
with the former in absurdity, though probably invented 
for the purpose of deterring the heirs of those that be- 
queath legacies to the order, from withholding what the 
testator thought proper to bestow. 

A nobleman of the republic of Genoa, long before it 
fell under the tyrannical power of his Sardinian majesty, 
was most devoutly attached to the Franciscan order, and 
bestowed upon it many substantial marks of his favour 
during life. At his death he bequeathed a large sum of 
money, to be used in paying for masses to be celebrated 
for the repose of his soul, by the monks of his favourite 
order. His son, a dissolute young man, refused to com- 
ply with the last wishes of his defunct father, and converted 
to other uses the money designed for the celebration of the 
masses. After some time, the father appeared to his un- 
worthy son, enveloped in flames of fire, and, with an angry 
countenance, threatened him with instant death, unless he 
immediately delivered up to the monks the money which 
he had bequeathed for their use, telling him, at the same 
time, that " he was tormented by the most excruciating 
pains of hell, on account of his avarice and disobedience ; 
for if he, his heir, had complied in fulfilling his last will, 
and if he had given up to the possession of those for 
whom it was intended that part of his fortune he had 
willed to them, the suffrages and prayers of the monks 
would be of the greatest avail in redeeming his soul from 
the tormenting state in which it was now placed." He 



156 SIX YEARS IN THE 

further added, " that the habit of St. Francis, in which he 
was buried, was of no avail whatever, because his son 
had not given to the holy fraternity to which it belonged, 
what was lawfully their due ; and that St. Francis, far from 
looking upon him with a favourable and protecting eye, 
only regarded him with anger, and had his body stripped 
of the holy habit immediately after it was consigned to 
the tomb." The spectre-father then disappeared, and left 
his son in tl^e deepest consternation, and fully resolved 
to make amends for his evil and unjust conduct. But 
this resolution was but momentary, and again he engaged 
in evil courses with his wicked companions, to whom he 
related the occurrence, and who laughed him out of his 
fright, while squandering the property to which he be- 
came heir. One night, after returning from a carousal, 
in which he spent the greater part of the day with his 
vicious companions, he retired to his chamber in a state 
of intoxication. The following morning, on his servant's 
entering his room to assist him, as he was wont to do, in 
dressing, he found him stretched at full length on the 
floor, a lifeless corpse. It was supposed that his father 
appeared to him again, and angry at his continuing to 
withhold the money from the Franciscans, and thereby 
depriving him of the benefit of their prayers and masses 
- — the only means of relieving him from torment — he had 
struck him dead, in order to make him serve as a future 
example to undutiful heirs, and of the sure punishment 
awaiting such, even in this world. This supposition 
was confirmed afterward, when, on opening the father's 
grave for the purpose of depositing at his side the body 
of the son, the former's corpse was found stark-naked. 
This being seen by one of the son's . companions, who 
attended the funeral, it immediately brought to his recol- 
lection the story related to him by the son, some time 
before his death, and more especially that part of it con- 
nected with the father's declaring* that " his body was 
despoiled of the habit in which he was buried, by order 
of St. Francis." He confessed the whole affair publicly, 
and in presence of all those attending the funeral, and, 
becoming convinced of the dangerous state in which he 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 157 

was placed by his evil course of life, he retired from the 
world altogether, and dedicated himself to God under the 
banner of St. Francis. The young man dying without 
issue, the property was applied for the redemption of the 
souls of its former owners from the torments which they 
were, most probably, suffering ; the part bequeathed by 
the father's will being first given up to the Franciscans, 
according to the primary intention of the testator, and the 
rest divided among the other regular and secular clergy of 
the city, as a compensation for their prayers and masses. 
Nor did the miracle stop here. The Lord wished pub- 
licly to show to his faithful people how much he was 
pleased with the forementioned distribution of the pro- 
perty. A holy hermit was directed to go the Bishop of 
Genoa, and signify that it was the Lord's wish that the 
graves of the father and son should be again opened. 
The bishop obeyed the Lord's message, and, accompanied 
by the clergy and laity of the city in procession, pro- 
ceeded to open the graves. The body of the father was 
found incorrupt, covered with a sweet-scented liquor, and 
again clad in the habit of St. Francis, by the same invi- 
sible agency it had been before stripped of it ; while that 
of the son was found putrid, and fast dwindling into dis- 
solution. The former's body was removed and depo- 
sited under the altar of the Franciscan church at Genoa, 
where it is kept to this day as a lasting memorial of the 
power of St. Francis, and of the good effects following 
from being buried in his habit, and from the prayers and 
suffrages of his holy disciples, (especially when they are 
paid for them, some heretic will add !) and of the terrible 
punishment awaiting those that dare defraud them of any 
part of that which the Almighty inspired the minds of 
departing sinners to bequeath them. 

The above story is its own comment. I shall not add 
a single word to thejbare narrative, but leave the reader 
to make his own reflections upon it ; only remarking, 
that it is by such means that monasteries acquire their 
riches. If, however, a church that gives countenance to 
such absurdities be infallible, thank God, there are few 
infallible churches in the world. 

15 



158 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Besides the fables and stories invented for the purpose 
of increasing the popular veneration for those things to 
which they attribute miraculous power, and which fables 
they are not ashamed to relate publicly in their pulpit, 
thus converting the temple of God into a place for pro- 
moting their own worldly views, they have also other 
ways by which they arrive at the same end — ways, 
indeed, more slow than the former, but yet more sure. 
The old monks, especially, are appointed to the exercise 
of them, as being supposed to have arrived at perfection, 
by long practice, in the arts of monkery. These ways 
chiefly consist in wheedling themselves into the bosom 
of families, and having acquired a degree of footing in 
them, and become master of their secrets, either through 
the organ of confession, or by the incautious relations of 
the heads of the families themselves, and not unfrequently 
by that of tattling servants, they take their own measures, 
and convert every circumstance to further the end never 
lost sight of — the advantage of themselves and of their 
order. 

The females belonging to such families are more 
especially those upon whose weak and uneducated minds 
—nearly all Italian women are miserably uneducated — 
they make the greatest impression. To these they re- 
late the wonders and miracles performed by their order, 
and by its founder; the power granted from Heaven to 
all those clad in their habit ; the very great benefits, tem- 
poral as well as spiritual, accruing to believers from the 
prayers and suffrages of the monks ; and the exceedingly 
great happiness of having St. Francis and his beatified 
followers interceding for departed souls at the throne of 
the Almighty. If these females be mothers of families, 
they will endeavour to instil into the minds of their child- 
ren the same notions of monkish sanctity with which 
their own minds are imbued, and thus the monks find 
the rising generation as willing to be duped, and to be 
subservient to their impositions, as their fathers and 
mothers were before them. If the family with which a 
monk has succeeded to ingratiate himself be in opulent 
circumstances — and monks seldom bait their hooks for 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 159 

any others — then the merit to be obtained by giving 
money for the celebration of masses, or for buying clothes 
for the decoration of the image of the Madonna, or for 
singing an office for the repose of the soul of some de- 
parted relative or friend ; the merit to be obtained by 
things of this description is laid open by him in a most 
forcible light, and seldom fails of bringing money into 
the coffers of the convent. If the wife should have any 
cause, either real or imaginary, to complain of her hus- 
band, or the husband of his wife, to whom else could 
either of them reveal, with more propriety, the domestic 
brawl than to the man of God, — as the favoured monk is 
styled ? And does the man of God endeavour to restore 
peace and mutual confidence again to this divided family? 
If it answer his ends, that is, if it be for the good of 
himself and of his order, he endeavours to do so ; for if 
both husband and wife be equally blind and attached to 
the order, he finds it more his interest to have them re- 
conciled than at variance. But if, on the contrary, one 
should be inimical to the order, and the other friendly to 
it, he is very sure, and it is part of his tact, to endeavour 
to widen the breach ; for he can gain more by their dis- 
sension than by their harmony. The wife is the one on 
whom he more especially depends for the success of his 
designs, as the husband, in most cases, barely tolerates 
his visits, and would wish to see both him and his con- 
vent (which, perhaps, at the coffee-house, among his 
companions, he calls it by its right name, — a den for 
knaves) at the bottom of the sea. The monk is not 
so stupid as not to perceive the dislike in which the 
husband holds him and his order, and, if it be ever in 
his power, he does not forget it toward him. He, how- 
ever, has the wife still to work upon ; and she, on her 
part, finds him a ready listener while she relates the 
faults and failings of her husband. Instances are not 
wanting of whole families turned topsy-turvy through 
the meddling of monks in their private concerns ; for, 
instead of being blessed peace-makers, the effects follow- 
ing their mediations prove them to be accursed sowers 
of dissensions. Wives at variance with their husbands 



160 SIX TEARS IN THE 

have been frequently found to have made away with the 
substance and properties of the same, and to have bestow- 
ed them upon their advisers, the monks ; and all this, by 
the encouragement and exhortation of the monks them- 
selves. 

In illustration of the evil effects which usually attend 
the meddling of friars in family concerns, and of the 
wicked use which they make of the influence gained over 
the minds of the female members of such families, I shall 
mention a circumstance related to me by a gentleman 
whom I met at Corfu. 

There lived in the town of Macerata situated in the 
march of Ancona, and about fifty miles from the city of 
Ancona itself, a newly married couple, of the name of 
Riezzi, well to do in the world ; Riezzi himself being a 
public notary of some estimation in the town. His wife 
was foolishly attached to a convent of Franciscan monks, 
who had chosen that city as a place for carrying on their 
impostures, and who realized considerable incomes from 
the superstition of the people. Her more particular 
favourite was her confessor, the superior of the foremen- 
tioned convent, and with him she spent more time than 
in the company of her husband. The latter, on the other 
hand, could barely tolerate the visits and intrusions of the 
monks into his house, and privately told his wife, that he 
would be better pleased if she made less freedom with 
them. This was the cause of a contention between 
them, which afterward broke out into an open rupture. 
The wife complained to her confessor that she was badly 
treated by her husband, chiefly on account of her endea- 
vouring to work out her salvation by adhering to the 
advice and practising the directions laid down by him, 
in his capacity of minister of Christ. She then enume- 
rated many of the bad qualities of her husband, and among 
others, did not forget to mention the command received 
from him of breaking off her acquaintance with himself, 
and with those of his order. The hatred which the hus- 
band had for those of his convent, and consequently for 
himself, had not escaped the observation of the perfidious 
confessor, and he therefore lent a willing ear to this con- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 161 

firmatidn of what he had already observed. By his ad- 
vice, his penitent, the wife, continued in her usual routine 
of confessions, communions, fasting, &c, and in giving 
whatever she could pilfer privately from her husband to 
the community of which he himself was head. The friars 
nqw abstained from their accustomed visits to his house, 
but to be revenged for his casting them off, they took 
every opportunity which presented of speaking badly of 
him in their visits to other houses, and of representing 
him as a man of no religion, and as one infected with the 
principles of freemasonry, which at that time, as well as 
now, were fast spreading through the Roman states. The 
poor man, by reason of such insinuations and such reports, 
found himself by degrees losing his extensive practice, 
and looked upon with suspicion by his fellow townsmen ; 
besides being under the close surveillance of the police. 
He suspected that his wife had a hand in raising this 
storm, through the agency of the monks to whom she had 
complained against him. Jle accused her of it, and she, 
far from denying having had part in it, even gloried in 
her own shame, and plainly told him, that the duty she 
owed to God was of greater importance than that she 
owed to her husband, and therefore her duty to God had 
prompted her to resist his attempts at withdrawing from 
her the advice and directions of God's ministers. On 
this, words rose high between them, and from words the 
husband proceeded to violence, and gave her a blow 
which stretched her lifeless on the floor. Fearing he 
had killed her, he thought it best to consult for his own 
safety by a hasty flight, and thus make his escape from 
the hands of justice. He immediately fled from his 
house, taking with him whatever at that moment he 
could lay hands upon ; but knowing how difficult it would 
be to elude the searches of those who would be sent in 
pursuit of him, he deemed it expedient to unite himself 
with the insurgent army, who were about that time to 
march from Bologna toward Rome, in order to take pos- 
session of the latter city, and free their country from papal 
bondage. 

At Civita Castellano he distinguished himself by his 

15* 



162 SIX YEARS IN THE 

bravery and perseverance in attacking that fortress, which 
impeded the further progress of the brave and talented 
insurgents.* The expedition entirely failing, and being 
forced to retire on the approach of the Austrians, who 
were sent for by the pope to help him to tyrannize over 
his unfortunate subjects, he with many others fled toward 
the sea-coast, and seizing upon a fishing smack that was 
drawn up on the beach, put to sea and steered for Corfu, 
which island they reached after a passage of ten days, 
during which they suffered great privations, not having 
had time to provide themselves with sufficient provisions ; 
and they would certainly have died of starvation, had they 
not fortunately fallen in with a Maltese vessel, which took 
them aboard and landed them safely in their place of 
destination. At Corfu, I became acquainted with Signor 
Riezzi, and from his own mouth I learned the circum- 
stance which I have now related. He further informed 
me, that his wife recovered soon after his departure, and 
following the advice of the monks, laid information against 
him before the prefect of the police, who immediately 
despatched his myrmidons in pursuit. His property was 
afterward confiscated, and she turned into the streets, 
without the means of subsistence — a punishment she well 
merited for her perfidious and unbecoming conduct. 

If a monk obtain footing in a rich family, where there 
are young women, daughters, his first care will be to en- 
deavour to weaken their affections for their parents and 
kindred ; and to fix them upon something, by which he 
and his order might be benefited. He opens his attack 

* The insurrection, which in the year 1831 broke out in the 
Roman states, was planned and perfected wholly in Bologna. The 
chief leaders of it were medical and legal students in that city. In- 
deed, all who were tired and wearied out with monks, priests, and 
friars ; all, who had sense enough to see into the impositions practised 
in order to uphold the papal power ; even many of the secular and 
regular clergy, who esteemed the common good of greater importance 
than their own individual interest, were all and every one of them 
united in the common cause, and bound themselves by a sacred oath 
to use all the means in their power to free their country even at the 
hazard of their own lives and fortunes. They richly deserve then the 
«pithet of " brave and talented insurgents." 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 163 

upon the daughters of his host by a long detail of the 
happiness to be found in the monastic state, and the very 
high privileges enjoyed by those who are so fortunate as 
to become the spouses of Jesus Christ — the blasphemous 
title which they give to nuns.* This is his favourite 
topic, especially when some of the young women are 
present, though he does not direct his discourse imme- 
diately to them ; for the better to succeed in his purpose, 
which is manifestly that of enticing them into a convent, 
he appears not even to be conscious of their presence. 
He therefore addresses wholly his discourse to the mo- 
ther, or to some other tartuffish old woman who may be 
present. He knows well enough that his discourse will 
not be thrown away, for either it will have the desired 
effect immediately on the minds of those for whom it is 
intended ; or will be repeated, after his departure, by the 
mother, or aunt, or by some other woman who was list- 
ening to it, and thus at length will be deeply fixed on the 
minds of the young women. If he be the confessor of 
young women of this description, he will then have a 
favourable opportunity of working upon their minds, and 
of entrapping them into a compliance with his wishes. 
While seated in the confessional, with his victims on 
their knees before him, he can very easily, under the form 
of advice and instruction, lay open to them the difficulty 
of saving their souls in the married state ; the dangers 
and temptations of the world ; the troubles and hardships 
which they will have to endure for their husbands and 
children ; in fine, he can represent every thing in 

* It is a remarkable coincidence, that to nearly all the Hindoo 
temples are attache^ numbers of females who are openly prostituted 
to the base desires of the priests, and of those who frequent the tem- 
ples. These women, like the nuns of the Romish church, are said to 
be " the spouses of the god." Query — Are not both employed for 
the same purpose — the gratification of the desires of their infamous 
priests ] The more popery is examined, the more striking will her 
relationship to all the false religions, ancient and modern, appear. 
Her peculiarities and practices are evidently the same with those of 
paganism, and the doctrines of both lead to the same end, and have 
the same object in view — the destruction of souls, and the private 
advantage of their ministers. 



164 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the worst light, which the young women, if left to their 
own unprejudiced judgment, would consider as the neces- 
sary attendants on the lot of human nature. On the other 
hand, he paints in most enticing colours the peace and 
calm to be found in the state of a nun ; the facilities 
held forth by that state for holding a closer communion 
with God ; the protection and intercession of the deceased 
holy nuns, who walked before them in the same road to 
salvation ; the harmony and sisterly love which reign 
among the holy virgins dedicated to God, and the honour 
of becoming a spouse of Jesus Christ; all and every one 
of these will be painted by him in the most glowing 
colours, and insensibly make an impression on the minds 
of his unsuspecting victims, till at last they consent to 
become self-murderers, and to bury themselves alive in the 
convent of some sisterhood, of which their confessor or 
the monks of his order have the government. After the 
fatal step, they soon become aware of the deception prac- 
tised upon them by their wily confessor, and clearly see, 
in a short time, that their fortunes, and not their persons, 
were longed for by the nuns of the convent, into which 
they were so unfortunate as to enter. Their life will 
become miserable, and they will spend it in cursing their 
unhappy fate, and in cursing the perfidy of the villain — 
for so they will call him — who, taking advantage of their 
inexperience and simplicity, led them by his advice and 
counsels, in order to advance his own private interests, to 
sacrifice themselves at the shrine of a monstrous and 
unnatural superstition. Every thing will be found quite 
contrary to what they were led to expect, and from what 
it was represented to them ; they will find neither peace, 
happiness, nor religion ; and instead of experiencing the 
sweet calm and contentment of those, who have placed 
their affections on the things which this world cannot 
bestow, they will experience the torment of desires, 
which they are obliged to repress, or at least conceal, of 
disappointment, and of despair. Let it not be supposed, 
that this picture of a nun's life is too highly coloured ; 
nd,that the description I have given of it surpasses, in 
ny way, the truth. Let those that imagine so, only 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 165 

examine for themselves, and without trusting to the opi- 
nion of others, let them take a view of human nature, as 
it exists under their own actual observation ; and if they 
continue in opposing the truth of the above picture, then 
indeed their eyes must have lost their natural force, and 
become incapable of performing what they were designed 
for — to help the judgment in forming just notions of 
things. 

It is not to be supposed that monks go to this trouble 
of inveigling young women into nunneries, thereby bring- 
ing down upon themselves the curses of those upon whom 
they succeed, without having some other object in view, 
besides the gratuitous pleasure of rendering others mise- 
rable. Although they derive no little pleasure, even from 
this fiendish indulgence, they yet have a more substantial 
object also in view — even that of obtaining a part of the 
young woman's fortune, which she takes with her to the 
nunnery, and gives up to the disposal of her future sisters. 
The monks, like recruiting sergeants, who get so much 
a head for the men whom they bring to join the military 
service, have also their head-money for every young lady 
of fortune that they entrap into a nunnery. They are 
also the governors of the nunneries, and all money mat- 
ters and affairs relating to its interests are transacted by 
them. The richer then the nunnery is, the more oppor- 
tunities will they have of pilfering it, and of converting 
the surplus revenues to their own private use, or to that 
of the convent to which they belong. The desire of 
enriching themselves seems to be the main-spring of 
their treachery; and all the delusive arts which they 
practise for the purpose of working upon the minds of 
the simple and confiding, seem directed to the accom- 
plishment of that great end. 

A young gentleman, whose sister was inveigled into a 
convent by the persuasions and manoeuvres of a monk, 
her confessor, and who was obliged to flee from Italy 
himself, on account of joining the Bolognese insurgents, 
related to me at Corfu, his place of refuge, and mine also 
indeed, the following story. It will illustrate and give 
an example of the manner in which monks act, in order 



166 SIX YEARS IN THE 

to draw young women of property under their control. 
I shall relate it in his own words. 

" My father was a goldsmith in Senegaglia, and ac- 
quired a handsome independence by his industry and 
success in trade. I had two sisters, one older and the 
other younger than myself. My older sister was mar- 
ried, while yet very young, to one of her own equals, 
my father being able to give her a considerable dowry. 
She also, before her marriage, was besieged by the arts 
and stratagems of the monks, who endeavoured to per- 
suade her to become a nun ; but being naturally of a 
strong mind, she was able to see into their designs, and 
to evade the snares that were laid for her happiness. I 
should have told you that my father was very intimate 
with monks of the Dominican order, who had a convent 
in our town. These were frequent visiters at his house 
and table, and seemed to have acquired a considerable 
influence over him. His table, his money, his interest, 
every thing he had, was at their service, while they, on 
their part, wished to repay his kindness by marking out 
his three children for their victims. The marriage of 
my elder sister did not in the least discourage them in 
their attempts, though her fortune was considered a seri- 
ous loss ; for they congratulated themselves on the fair 
field they had for enticing her into a convent, and thereby 
gaining possession of it. They now exerted themselves 
with renewed vigour in working on the minds of the re- 
maining two, myself and my younger sister. As for me, 
they were almost sure — I showed such a docile, flexible 
disposition — that I could be easily prevailed upon to em- 
brace their order, and enrich the convent with the pro- 
perty which my father, at his death, would bequeath 
me. Nor did they give up their hopes of my coming to 
that determination, when I was removed to Bologna, by 
my father's orders, to prepare myself for the medical 
profession. They followed me there by letters, and gave 
notice to their fellow Dominicans in Bologna, that I was 
game worth chasing, and that they should endeavour to 
ingratiate themselves into my favour; as the property 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC 167 

which I was heir to would be of great advantage to the 
whole Dominican order. 

"I was hardly well set down at Bologna, when I 
found my acquaintance eagerly sought after by the monks. 
I was pressed to accept of invitations to dinners, festivals, 
and other things of this kind, almost every day by them ; 
and when I did accept them, I was treated with the great- 
est respect, placed at the head of the table, and flattered 
in the most fulsome manner. They never ceased speak- 
ing before me of the happiness to be enjoyed in the 
monastic life, and how far superior that life is to a secular, 
and how much better to enjoy the sweet calm and tran- 
quillity of a monastery, than be tossed about and harass- 
ed by the turmoils of the world. They certainly were 
making strong impressions on my mind, and would have 
succeeded in bringing me over to their wishes, had not a 
conversation, which I accidentally overheard between the 
prior and another friar, opened my eyes to their designs. 
Visiting the convent one evening when I was not expect- 
ed, I heard my own name frequently repeated by two 
who seemed deeply engaged in conversation. Curiosity 
prompted me to listen more attentively, when I discover- 
ed that their conversation was about myself, and that the 
final attack in persuading me should be made in a few 
days. I could also discover, from their conversation, 
that my sister had consented to become a Dominican nun, 
and that my father had already given his consent. I re- 
tired from the convent without being seen by any one, 
and immediately wrote a letter to my father, acquainting 
him with what I had overheard, and entreating him to 
retract the consent he had given of having my unfortu- 
nate sister buried alive. I afterward learned, that my 
sister, after my departure being left alone, and having no 
one to direct her, gave herself up wholly to the guidance 
of the monks, and they at last succeeded in prevailing 
upon her to enter a nunnery. She remained firm in her 
intention, and having received her portion from my 
father, she settled it on the convent, and took the veil. 
After her solemn profession, she became more fully ac- 
quainted with monachism, which soon brought on grief 



168 SIX TEARS IN THE 

and disappointment. These soon preyed on her spirits, 
and produced a slow decline, of which she soon after 
died, cursing with her latest breath the perfidy of the 
villains who had worked on her weak mind, in order to 
get possession of her fortune, by enticing her into a con- 
vent. I became after this so disgusted, so enraged against 
the monks, that I refused having any more connexion 
with them, and even refused them admittance to my 
lodgings, when they came for the purpose of visiting me, 
They, on the other hand, finding that they had lost their 
influence over me, wrote many letters to my father, 
wherein they were not ashamed to give utterance to 
many falsehoods relating to my conduct at the University ; 
and by which they hoped to prejudice him against me. 
My father himself, after a short time becoming conscious 
of the scheme which was laid for entrapping his fortune 
and his children, took no notice of their calumnies, and 
even advised me not to have any thing to do with them, 
and not to pay any attention either to their advice or 
themselves. I believe he repented of being so easily 
duped in my sister's case, and forbade his former friends, 
the Dominicans, his house, after my sister's death. I 
myself joined the insurgents at Bologna, and now, 
through the miscarriage of our glorious expedition, am, 
like yourself, (meaning me,) indebted to a foreign land 
for protection. My father is still living, and remits me 
money when he can do it, without running the risk of 
being discovered. I myself am outlawed, but my father 
assures me that he will come and settle in Corfu as soon 
as he can dispose of his property.'* 

Here my friend finished his narrative. I have given 
it, to the best of my recollection, in his own words, and 
I consider it a striking example of the perfidy and chi- 
canery of monks in their attempts to enrich themselves 
at the expense of the happiness of others, whether males 
or females. The reader will be pleased to learn, that the 
father of the above soon after arrived in Corfu, having 
disposed of hi3 property in Senegaglia, and lives there 
now contented in the society of his son. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 169 



CHAPTER XX. 

Adoration and prayers to saints — Confirmed by the Council of Trent 
— Absurdity of that doctrine — Image-worship — Papists really and 
truly idolaters — How they excuse themselves — Adoration of the 
statue of Saint Januarius at Naples — Blasphemous prayer ad- 
dressed to Jesus Christ by the Neapolitans — Idol-worship practised 
by all false religions — Modern Greeks and Romans inexcusable — 
History of the rise and progress of image-worship in the church 
of Christ — Image-worship abhorred by the primitive church — 
Opinions of some of the early fathers on that subject — Images of 
saints admitted as ornaments in the churches in the beginning of 
the fifth century — Gregory the Great condemns image-worship — ■ 
The monks of the eighth century establish image-worship by their 
own example — Edict of Leo, the Isaurian, concerning images — 
The priests and monks excite the people to rebellion in conse- 
quence of it — Leo orders all images to be publicly burnt — 
Image-worship favoured by popes — Iconoclastse, and Iconolatrae — 
Charlemagne declares against image-worship — Claudius, bishop of 
Turin, orders all images to be cast out of the churches — Image- 
worship established by law in the eastern and western churches, 
and triumphs till the era of the reformation — Effects of the 
reformation on image-worship. 

The invocation of saints — that is, the adoration of, 
and prayers to, the saints — is a favourite doctrine of the 
church of Rome. The Council of Trent expressly 
teaches ; " that the saints reigning with Christ in heaven, 
offer up and present prayers to God for men, and that 
those who pray to the saints for their intercession, may 
expect to have their prayers to God heard with more 
attention." Though these are not the precise words of 
the council on the article of invocation of saints, yet it 
is manifest that such is the meaning of them, and that a 
belief in the help afforded by saints to their fellow sin- 
ners in obtaining salvation, is intended to be established 
by them. This doctrine is so contrary to Scripture, and 
to common sense, that no one, who has for a moment 
examined it, can think seriously of setting it down as an 
article of the Christian faith ; nay, he will immediately 

16 



170 SIX YEARS IN THE 

perceive, that it is one of those monstrous absurd doc- 
trines, with which the Romish church has darkened the 
clear atmosphere of genuine Christianity. The scriptu- 
ral arguments by which it is proved heretical and errone- 
ous are numerous and unanswerable ; but as bringing 
them forward in this work might be deemed unneces 
sary and superfluous, I shall on that account omit them. 
It is a doctrine also directly contrary to common sense ; 
for it supposes the omnipresence of finite and limited 
beings, and their being able to hear and attend to, at one 
and the same time, prayers offered up to them in differ- 
ent parts of the world — in China and Ireland, Rome and 
Madrid. This being the attribute of God alone, it cannot 
then be applied to one of his creatures without derogat- 
ing from his honour, and robbing him of one of his attri- 
butes. If it be denied that such a supposition is made ; 
how then, it may be asked, can the saints hear the re- 
quests and prayers offered up to them, if they be not 
near? If they have not the power of hearing such pray- 
ers ; how then 1 can they attend to them, and intercede 
with God in favour of the petitioners. It is clear, there- 
fore, that addressing prayers and petitions to such pow- 
erless gods — for gods they really are made — is incon- 
sistent with common sense, and unworthy of a judicious 
mind. 

From this erroneous doctrine of the invocation of 
saints, flow the adoration and worship paid to images, 
pictures, and relics. This adoration, however it may be 
excused and got over by the advocates of popery, is cer- 
tainly in itself positive idolatry. Idolatry is the act of 
ascribing to things and persons properties which are 
peculiar to God alone. When the papist ascribes to a 
certain image, or to a certain picture situated in a certain 
part of the world, the power of healing the sick, of 
granting miraculous favours, of protecting from pesti- 
lence, shipwrecks, &c, does he not ascribe to inanimate, 
dead, and senseless things properties peculiar to God 
alone ? Is he not then acting the idolater ? When he 
bows down to, and worships such an image, or such a 
picture, for the sake of propitiating it in his favour ; is 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 171 

he not then acting idolatrously ? And granting, that he 
adores, worships, and prays to — not the stone or can- 
vass, of which the idol or picture is composed — though 
ninety-nine out of a hundred saint-worshippers really 
imagine that the idol itself has the power of granting 
him his petitions, and adores it with the great sincerity 
accordingly ; for if such an idea did not exist, why would 
there be a distinction made between the image of a saint 
situated in one place, and that in another? — even grant- 
ing that he prays to and adores the person represented 
by such a picture or image ; is he on that account free 
from the crime of idolatry ? I should think not ; whereas 
he gives that adoration to a creature which is due to 
God alone, and attributes to the same creature a power, 
which, if he really possessed it, he would be no longer a 
creature. Nor will it lessen the objection to say, that 
the creature prayed to is now a sanctified person and 
enjoying the favour of God, and therefore, that pray- 
ers are offered to him for the purpose of imploring his 
intercession at the throne of the Almighty. This ex- 
cuse, even if it were true, which it is not, as all must 
confess who have fully examined the subject, would be 
of no avail, for it would still remain to be accounted for, 
upon what authority another mediator betioeen God and 
man, besides the man Christ Jesus, was set up, contrary 
to the express words of Scripture. Besides, in soliciting 
the mediation of that creature, the creature itself is adored 
and worshipped ; but he who worships or adores a crea- 
ture is an idolater; ergo, it is certain, that all saint- 
adorers and saint-worshippers are idolaters. But so far 
from the devotees of saints praying for their intercession 
and protection, they, for the most part, are confident, 
that the saints themselves have the immediate power of 
granting them their request, and therefore, pray to them 
accordingly, without even once thinking of God, or that 
he alone has the power of satisfying them. This is 
fully proved by the practices of the people in those 
countries, where saint-worship and idolatry is established 
by law, under the name of Christianity. Their curses, 
and even their blessings are always invoked in the name 



172 SIX YEARS IN THE 

of some saint. " Che vi venga la maledizione di San 
Francesco ;" or " la Madonna vi ajuti," — (The curse of 
St. Francis on you : may the Virgin Mary be your 
guide,) — are frequent forms of prayer or malediction, in 
the mouth of every Italian. In Naples, as remarkable 
for the shrine of St. Januarius, as for the volcano of 
Vesuvius, whose eruptions are kept in order — so the 
people believe, and so the priests of his temple preach — • 
by his blood contained in a vial, it is no uncommon thing 
to hear the following blasphemous prayer : " O Gesu 
Christo, prega, ti pregiamo, a san Gennaro a far un 
miracolo ;" or, " pregalo a concederci questo favore ;" 
(0 Jesus Christ, we pray thee to pray St. Januarius to 
perform a miracle, or pray him to grant us this favour, 
&c.) Thus St. Januarius is placed above Jesus Christ, 
and the latter is only prayed to for his intercession with 
the former to perform a miracle, or to grant favours ! J 
This is the common people's belief; and even if such 
preposterous language be rejected and condemned by the 
more enlightened, it nevertheless shows the tendency 
which saint-worship and images have to make the greater 
part of the people really and truly idolaters. Its being 
so glaringly blasphemous, is the reason why it is rejected, 
at least in part, by the enlightened part of the citizens ; 
but I am much mistaken, if they do not worship and 
adore the golden image of their saint,* though in another 
way, and in different words, with more confidence and 
devotion, than they approach in prayer the Lord and 
giver of life ; so that these also justly come under the 
hateful and anti-christian name of " Idolaters." 



* The image of St. Januarius, as it stands in the cathedral church 
of Naples, is of solid silver, washed over with gold. The head and 
face are wholly of the latter metal. The Neapolitan Lazaroni, when 
they pray before this image, address it w ith the greatest freedom, and 
ask its aid in being able to escape detection from some crime, which 
they propose committing. They generally call this saint by the 
familiar title of "faccia gialliccia" or yellow face, (his face being of 
gold,) and promise him so many wax candles, if they succeed in 
their undertaking. If they do not succeed, they threaten to pull his 
beard, which, by the way, is also of gold. 






MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 173 

It is remarkable that all false religions have the worship 
of images, more or less, imbodied among their other er- 
roneous notions of the adoration due to the Supreme 
Being. The early history of all ages, and of all people, 
fully proves the truth of this observation. From the 
unpolished and uncivilized South Sea savages, to the 
cultivated and polite Greeks and Romans, not less the 
fathers of the arts and sciences than the Chaldeans, 
Phoenicians, and Egyptians themselves ; for the former 
improved and perfected what the latter handed down to 
them ; all and every one of these nations went after and 
adored gods made with their own hands ; idolatry being 
a religion more adapted to the bent which men have 
toward visible and sensible objects. Men want gods 
who shall go before them, and be among them, because 
God, who is everywhere in power, and nowhere in 
appearance, is hard to be conceived without the light of 
divine illumination. However excusable, then, these 
may be in their erroneous notions of the worship suited 
to a spiritual and unseen God, because not favoured with 
that light, the modern Romans have only the excuse, that 
they are led by their priests to imitate their pagan ances- 
tors in their love of idols ; and who corrupt the word of 
God, impiously corrupt it, in order to make it speak in 
favour of their idolatry ; or, when this is impossible, to 
make it, at least, pass over in silence that abominable 
crime. For this reason many texts of Scripture are tor- 
tured into a sense quite different from their real significa- 
tions, while others are either left out entirely, or mutilated, 
as has been done with the second commandment ; whereby 
we are commanded neither to make nor bow down to a 
graven image, or to the likeness of any creature. And 
here it may not be deemed foreign to our subject to give 
a succinct account of the rise and progress of image- 
worship in the church of Christ. I do it the more will- 
ingly, as it will give the reader an idea of the horror and 
detestation in which idolatry was held by the primitive 
church, and of the opposition it met with, and the blood- 
shed it caused, before it was finally established, and in- 
grafted on the pure stock of genuine Christianity. 

16* 



174 SIX TEARS IN THE 

It is plain from the practice of the primitive church, 
recorded by the earlier fathers, that Christians, during 
the first three centuries, and the greater part of the fourth, 
neither worshipped images, nor used them in their wor- 
ship. However, the generality of popish divines main- 
tain that the use and worship of images are as ancient 
as the Christian religion itself. To prove this, they 
bring forward a decree, said to have been made in a 
council held by the apostles in Antioch, commanding the 
faithful, that they may not err about the object of their 
worship, to make images of Christ and worship them. 
This decree is mentioned by Cardinal Baronius in his 
Ecclesiastical Annals, under the year of our Lord 102 ; 
but it is strange that no notice is taken of it till seven 
hundred years after the apostolic times, after -the dispute 
about images had commenced. The first instance that 
occurs, in any credible author, of images among Chris- 
tians, is that recorded by Tertullian, (De Pudicitia, cap. 
10,) of certain cups, or chalices, on which were repre- 
sented the parable of the good shepherd carrying the lost 
sheep on his shoulders ; but this instance only proves 
that the church, at that time, did not think emblematical 
figures unlawful ornaments of chalices. Another instance 
is taken from Eusebius, (Ecclesiastical History, lib. vii. 
cap. 18,) who says, that in his time, (he lived in the be- 
ginning of the fourth century,) there were to be seen two 
brass statues in the city of Paneas, or Caesarea Philippi, 
the one of a woman on her knees, with her arm stretched 
out, the other of a man over against her, with his hand 
extended to receive her. These statues were said to be 
the images of our Saviour, and the woman whom he 
cured of an issue of blood. From the foot of the statue 
representing our Saviour, he relates that there sprung up 
an exotic plant, which, as soon as it grew to the height 
of touching the border of his garment, was said to cure 
all sorts of distempers. The historian, however, vouches 
none of these things ; nay, he supposes, that the woman 
who erected this statue of our Saviour was a pagan, and 
ascribe* it to a pagan custom. This supposition is very 
reasonable, for it is very probable that the woman who 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 175 

erected it, was herself afflicted with an issue of blood, 
and hearing from some Christians, perhaps, that the God 
whom they worshipped formerly cured a woman afflicted 
with it, she also, hoping the same effect, and imitating 
the customs of paganism, erected this statue to conciliate 
the favour of the Christians' God. It is highly impro- 
bable then, that the Christians would adore an image set 
up by the superstition of a pagan woman, for though that 
image may even represent the God of their own worship, 
yet it was always brass, or some other matter, which 
they abhorred to worship. The primitive Christians ab- 
stained from the worship of images, not, as the papists 
pretend, from tenderness to heathen idolaters, but because 
they thought it unlawful in itself to make any image of 
the Deity. Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Ori- 
gen were of opinion, that, by the second commandment, 
painting and engraving were unlawful to a Christian, 
styling them evil and wicked arts. (Tert. De Idolatria, 
cap. 3. Clem. Alex. Admonitiones ad Gentes, p. 41. 
Origen contra Celsum, lib. vi. p. 182.) 

The uses of images in churches, as ornaments, were 
first introduced by some Christians in Spain, in the be- 
ginning of the fourth century.; but the practice was con- 
demned as a dangerous innovation, in a council held at 
Eliberis, in 305. The custom of admitting pictures of 
saints and martyrs into churches, (for this was the first 
source of image-worship,) was rare in the end of the 
fourth century, but became common in the fifth. But 
they were still considered only as ornaments, and even 
in this view, as shall be shown in the sequel, they met 
with very considerable opposition. In the following 
century, the custom of thus adorning churches became 
almost universal, both in the east and west. Petavius 
expressly says, (De Incarnatione, lib. xv. cap. 14,) that 
no statues were yet allowed in the churches, because 
they bore too near a resemblance to the idols of the Gen- 
tiles. Toward the close of the fourth or beginning of the 
fifth century, images, which were introduced by way of 
ornament, and then used as an aid to devotion, began to 
ba Actually worshipped. However, it continued to be 



176 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the doctrine of the church in the sixth, and in the begin- 
ning- of the seventh centuries, that images were to be 
used only as helps to devotion, and not as objects of 
worship. The worship of them was condemned, in the 
strongest terms, by Gregory the Great, as appears by 
two of his letters written in 601. From this time to the 
beginning of the eighth century, there occurs no instance 
of any worship given, or allowed to be given, to images, 
by any council or assembly of bishops whatever. But 
they were commonly worshipped by the monks and 
populace, in the beginning of the eighth century ; inso- 
much that, in 726, when Leo, the Isaurian, published 
his famous edict, image-worship had already spread into 
all the provinces subject to the empire. 

Leo's edict was occasioned by the disturbances which 
broke out in his reign about the worship of images. By 
it he abrogated, according to some, the worship of images 
altogether, and ordered all the images, except that of 
Christ's crucifixion, to be removed from the churches ; 
but, according to others, this edict only prohibited the 
paying to them any kind of adoration or worship. The 
tumults excited by the contending parties in favour and 
against image-worship, was the cause of the revolution 
which deprived Leo's predecessor, Bardanes, of the im- 
perial throne in 713. The edict published by Leo him- 
self, in 726, which we have mentioned before, occasioned 
also a civil war, which broke out in the islands of the 
Archipelago, and by the suggestions of the priests and 
monks, ravaged a great part of Asia, and afterward 
reached Italy. The civil commotions and insurrections 
in Italy were chiefly promoted by the Roman pontiffs, 
Gregory I. and II. Leo was excommunicated ; and his 
subjects, in the Italian provinces, violated their allegiance, 
and rising in arms, either massacred or banished all the 
emperor's deputies and officers. In consequence of these 
proceedings, Leo assembled a council at Constantinople, in 
730, which degraded Germanus, bishop of that city, who 
was a patron of images ; and he ordered all the images 
to be publicly burnt, and inflicted a variety of punish- 
ments upon such as were attached to that idolatrous wor- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 177 

ship. Hence arose two factions, one of which adopted 
the adoration and worship of images, and on that account 
were called iconolatrae, or image-adorers, (from eiKw, an 
image, and Xarpeveiv, to adore ;) and the other maintained 
that such worship was unlawful, and that nothing was 
more worthy of the zeal of Christians than to demolish 
and destroy those statutes and pictures which were the 
occasion of this gross idolatry, and hence they were dis- 
tinguished by the title of iconoclasts, or image-breakers, 
(from eiKav, an image, and KXaursiv, to break.) The zeal 
of Gregory II., in favour of image-worship, was not only 
imitated, but even surpassed by his successor, Gregory 
III., in consequence of which the Italian provinces were 
torn from the Grecian empire. Constantine, called Co- 
pronymus, in 764, convened a council at Constantinople, 
regarded by the Greeks as the seventh oecumenical 
council, which solemnly condemned the worship and 
usage of images. Those who, notwithstanding the decree 
of the council, raised commotions in the state, were 
severely punished, and new laws were enacted to set 
bounds to the violence of monastic rage. Leo IV., who 
was proclaimed emperor in 755, pursued the same mea- 
sures, and had recourse to the coercive influence of penal 
laws, in order to extirpate idolatry out of the Christian 
church. Irene, the wife of Leo, having poisoned her 
husband in 780, assumed the reins of empire during the 
minority of her son Constantine ; and in 786, summoned 
a council at Nice, in Bithynia, known by the name of the 
second Nicene council, which abrogated the laws and 
decrees passed by former emperors against the new idol- 
atry, restored the worship of images, and of the cross, 
and denounced severe punishments against those who 
maintained that God was the only object of religious 
adoration. 

In this contest the Britons, Germans, and Gauls were 
of opinion that images might be lawfully continued in the 
churches ; but they considered the worship of them as 
highly injurious and offensive to the Supreme Being. 
Charlemagne distinguished himself as a mediator in this 
controversy ; he ordered four books concerning images to 



178 SIX YEARS IN THE 

be composed, refuting the reasons urged by the Nicene 
bishops to justify the worship of images, which he sent 
to Adrian, the Roman pontiff, in 790, in order to engage 
him to withdraw his approbation of the decrees of the last 
council of Nice. Adrian wrote an answer ; and in 794, 
a council of three hundred bishops, assembled by Charle- 
magne, at Frankfort on the Maine, confirmed the opinion 
contained in the four books, and solemnly condemned the 
worship of images. 

In the Greek church, after the banishment of Irene, the 
controversy concerning images broke out anew, and was 
carried on by the contending parties, during the half of 
the ninth century, with various and uncertain success. 
The Emperor Nicephorus appears upon the whole to have 
been an enemy to this idolatrous worship. His successor, 
Michael Curopalates, surnamed Rhangabe, patronised and 
encouraged it. But the scene changed on the accession 
of Leo, the Armenian, to the empire, who assembled a 
council at Constantinople, in 812, and abolished the de- 
crees of the Nicene council. His successor, Michael, 
surnamed Balbus, disapproved of the worship of images, 
and his son Theophilus, treated their worshippers with 
great severity. However, the Empress Theodora, after 
his death, and during the minority of her son, assembled 
a council at Constantinople in 842, which reinstated the 
decrees of the second Nicene council, and encouraged 
image-worship by an edict. The council held at the same 
place under Protius, in 879, and reckoned by the Greeks 
the eighth general council, confirmed and renewed the 
Nicene decrees. In commemoration of this council, a 
festival was instituted by the superstitious Greeks, called 
the feast of orthodoxy, which is continued to be cele- 
brated down to our own days, though very few among 
them, not even excepting the Greek priests themselves, 
know the reason of its being instituted. 

The Latin church of the ninth century was generally 
of opinion that images might be allowed in the churches 
for the sake of ornament, or for exciting the devotion of 
the people ; but it absolutely prohibited that any thing 
like religious worship or adoration should be paid to them. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 179 

The council of Paris, assembled, in 824, by Louis the 
Meek, confirmed by a decree this general opinion of the 
western church with regard to images ; and, at the same 
time, commanded, under pain of punishment, that Chris- 
tians should regard them in no other light than that of 
church ornaments : nevertheless, the Gallican clergy 
began to pay a kind of religious homage to the images of 
saints, and their examples were followed by the Germans 
and other nations. However, the enemies to image-wor- 
ship had still their adherents among the Latins ; the most 
eminent of whom was Claudius, bishop of Turin, who, 
in 823, ordered all images, and even the cross, to be cast 
out of the churches, and committed to the flames ; and 
he wrote a treatise, in which he declared both against the 
use and worship of them. He condemned relics, pilgrim- 
ages to the Holy Land, and all voyages to the tombs of 
saints ; and to his writings and labours it was owing, that 
the city of Turin, and the adjacent country, was, for a 
long time after his death, much less infected with super- 
stition than the other parts of Europe. The controversy 
concerning the sanctity of images, was again revived by 
Leo, bishop of Chalcedon, in the eleventh century, on 
occasion of the Emperor Alexius's converting the figures 
of silver that adorned the portals of the churches into 
money, in order to supply the exigencies of the state. 
The bishop obstinately maintained that he had been 
guilty of sacrilege, and published a treatise, in which he 
affirmed that in these images there resided an inherent 
sanctity, and that the adoration of Christians ought not to 
be confined to the persons represented by these images, 
but should be extended to the images themselves. The 
emperor assembled a council at Constantinople, which 
determined that the images of Christ and of the saints 
were to be honoured only with a relative worship ; and that 
the invocation and worship were to be addressed to the 
saints only, as the servants of Christ, and on account of 
their relation to him as their master. Leo, dissatisfied 
with these absurd and superstitious decisions, was sent 
into banishment. Had he lived some centuries later, or 
down to our own days, he would have little cause to be 



180 SIX TEARS IN THE 

dissatisfied ; for he would find images and pictures adored 
and prayed to, even more than he himself pointed out in 
his treatise ; and would find his own theory of their 
inherent sanctity fully practised upon. From this time 
forward, image-worship was established both in the 
eastern and western churches without receiving any 
opposition, except from the Albigenses, Waldenses, and 
others, who were too few in number and too weak to 
cause any obstacle to this idolatrous practice, till the middle 
of the sixteenth century, the era of the reformation, when 
it was abolished in many parts of the Christian world. 
It was again confirmed by the Council of Trent about the 
same time, and is now practised to an extent which it 
seldom reached before, in every part of the globe where 
popery prevails. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Image-worship in the nineteenth century — Statue of St. Peter — 
Opinions as to its identity with one of the pagan divinities of ancient 
Rome — Story illustrating the vengeance which it takes on those 
who dishonour it — Another, whereby it becomes clear that his 
brazen saintship has the power of protecting his devout worship- 
pers — Reflections. 

Having in the foregoing chapter given a succinct history 
of the rise and progress of images and image-worship, 
according to the views of the best writers on the subject ; 
I shall in this and some following chapters, endeavour 
to give some account of the practice of that idolatry on 
the continent of Europe, and in other places where 
popery triumphs. 

There are very few churches in Rome that are not 
distinguished for the possession of some wonderful and 
miracle-working image or picture. The prayers, and 
consequently the offerings presented at the shrine of 
those idols, are the sources of great emoluments to the 
priests attached to their service, and therefore the latter 
use all the means in their power to cherish and excite 
the popular devotion toward them. To begin with St. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 181 

Peter's ; that splendid edifice, so renowned through the 
whole civilized world for the beauty of its architecture, 
and for the other stupendous master-pieces of the arts 
with which it is adorned ; its very portal, on which are 
represented in relievo-figures the actions and miracles of 
deified men, announces it, at once, as a place dedicated 
to idolatrous worship. The visiter does not advance 
more than ten steps up its magnificent and awe-inspiring 
aisle, before he must lament to find a temple nominally 
designed for the worship of the true God, polluted by the 
monstrous superstitions of idolatry. He will observe the 
bronze statue of St. Peter, seated in a chair of the same 
metal, and armed in the one hand with the insignia of his 
office — the keys, as being gate-keeper of heaven — while 
with the other, he seems in the act of bestowing a bless- 
ing upon those, who, after having humbly adored him 
upon their knees, are advancing to kiss his brazen foot, 
extended for that purpose. This statue, or rather idol, 
placed on his right hand side after entering the church, 
strongly reminds the visiter of the soul-destroying idolatry 
practised in the church of Rome. Not far from this, but 
nearer to the door, he will see another practical example 
of the system, by which men are led to place their hopes 
of salvation — -not upon the all-atoning blood of Christ — 
but on the inventions of their fellow men ; he will ob- 
serve the vessel for holy water, guarded by two marble 
angels, with wings expanded, and of exquisite workman- 
ship, overflowing with that water, which (so teacheth 
the Roman church) freeth from venial sins.* Thus is 

* The aqua sancta, or the holy water, is manifestly another rem- 
nant of the pagan superstition, which is to be found scattered through 
the rites and ceremonies of the church of Rome. It corresponds with 
the aqua lustralis of the ancients, and seems also to be imitated by 
the Mahometans, who, in a copious shower of clear water, wash 
themselves from their sins. The Mahometan ablutions and the 
popish sprinklings are, then, reducible to one and the same thing — 
the obtaining remission of sin. The Mahometan way is much the 
cleaner, and therefore to be preferred ; for it at least cleanses the body, 
whereas popish holy water is very often suffered to remain in the 
churches till it gets into a state of corruption, and thus becomes 
highly detrimental to the health of the people. I have often seen 
a greenish slime upon it in some churches. 

17 



182 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the blood of Christ, that (alone) cleanseth from all sin, 
rendered invalid by the substitution of other atonements. 

The idol statue of St. Peter is supposed to have been 
worshipped by the ancient Romans under the name of 
Jupiter Stator ; and to have been transformed into a Chris- 
tian saint,* when idolatrous corruption first broke forth in 
the Western churches ; which event may be dated, as 
we have already seen, from the beginning of the seventh 
century. It is true, that there are many opinions afloat 
respecting the original design and title of it ; some de- 
fending its identity with Jupiter Stator ; others again 
with Jupiter Capitolinus ; while not few assert, that it 
had been the statue of the two-faced Janus, and that the 
latter's head was knocked off to make room for the head 
of St. Peter. All agree, however, that it formerly repre- 
sented a heathen god, and that very little alteration was 
made in it, in order to render it a fitting object for Chris- 
tian adoration ; which adoration it never received with 
greater marks of devotion and respect, while in the 
character of a Jupiter, than it now receives in its charac- 
ter of first pope and gate-keeper of heaven. happy 
piece of brass ! (the reader will exclaim,) to be thus raised 
to divine honours ! Thrice happy indeed, if it could feel 
those honours; but unfortunately, "it has eyes, but can- 
not see," and " ears, but cannot hear." If it could either 
hear or see, it would blush and be ashamed of seeing 
itself, a creature, adored, instead of God the Creator, and 
would thus show itself more modest than the soi-disant 
Vicar of Christ, who not only suffers himself to be 
adored daily by those whom his false doctrines have led 
out of the right path, but even claims that adoration as 
his right. 

There are many fables related by monkish annalists 
concerning the power attributed to this idol, and the many 
favours obtained from its munificent hands by devout 

* Pope seems to allude to this custom of converting the images of 
heathen gods into Christian saints, in the following verses : 

" Till Peter's keys some christen 'd Jove adorn, 
And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn ; 
See graceless Venus to a virgin turn'd." 

Dunciad, Book III. . 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 133 

worshippers ; and also concerning- the punishment which 
had been inflicted on those who dared, in any way, tres- 
pass against its majesty, or use it with irreverence. 

I shall mention one or two stories of this kind, for the 
purpose of exhibiting the manner in which image-wor- 
ship is upheld in the church of Rome, and the ridiculous 
fables that are brought forward by its advocates in proof 
of its acceptance with the Supreme Being. 

Many men, perhaps more than thirty, are daily em- 
ployed at St. Peter's, whose duty it is to keep the church 
clean, and wipe the dust from the altars, statues, pictures, 
&c. One of these men, in a moment of gayety, resolved 
to have a laugh at the worshippers of the brazen idol, St. 
Peter. For this purpose, he procured some grease and 
lampblack, and mixing them well together, he watched 
an opportunity, when no one was present, to besmear 
with the composition the foot of St. Peter, which is un- 
usually bright from the number of kisses bestowed upon 
it by the superstitious worshippers. Having laid his 
snare, he betook himself to another part of the church, 
where he could observe those that entered ; and who, as 
is the custom, first go to the holy water vessel, and wash 
themselves with a drop of the purificatory water from 
their venial sins, after which they advance to pay their 
devoirs to St. Peter, and kiss his foot. He anticipated no 
small share of amusement and food for laughter, in seeing 
those who kissed the idol's foot, retreating with blacken- 
ed lips and face from their act of devotion. He had not 
remained long on the watch, when a foreign bishop, with 
his attaches of five or six priests, entered the church ; and 
after having been freed from their venial sins by a drop 
of the sacred element, they, like true papicolists, advanced 
to the adoration of St. Peter. Having repeated a few 
pater-nosters on their knees before the image, they pro- 
ceeded to kiss its foot ; the bishop showing the example, 
as it was meet, he being the first in dignity. He carried 
off, in reward for his devotion, as may be supposed, no 
small share of the lampblack, with which it was besmear- 
ed ; and on being imitated by his followers, they also were 
not left without their share of it. The plan succeeded 



184 SIX YEARS IN THE 

so far, to the satisfaction of the wag that devised it. The 
parties concerned were as yet unconscious of their black 
lips and faces, and continued their walk through the 
church, looking at the pictures and examining the statues. 
They wondered, however, what was ridiculous about 
them, that they excited the laughter of all whom they 
met. On looking in the faces of each other, they soon 
discovered how the affair stood, and they themselves 
could not refrain from laughter, when they saw the figure 
which their leader, monseignor the bishop, exhibited 
with his blackened face. Having retired into one of the 
sacristies, they obtained water, and with it performed 
for their faces what they imagined the holy water had 
done for their souls a little before. Inquiries were made 
for the perpetrator of the horrid deed ; but no one could 
be found on whom suspicion could fall; no one, in fine, 
knew any thing about it. In the course of the day, one 
of the men mounted a moveable scaffolding, made* for 
the purpose of brushing cobwebs from the ceiling and 
from other elevated parts of the church, and while in 
the act of performing his office, his foot accidentally 
slipped, and he fell headlong from a height of more than 
twenty feet. His companions ran to his assistance, but 
he, alas ! was speechless. Instead of procuring surgical 
aid, the whole cry was for the " holy oil" in order to 
anoint him. While the priest was anointing him, he 
uttered a few indistinct words, from which the bystanders 
could gather that he was the person who impiously pro- 
faned the statue of St. Peter. The words that he uttered 
were, " O San Pietro, sei vindicate" (O Saint Peter, 
thou art revenged.) In fact, the sufferer turned out to be 
the wag who had polluted St. Peter's foot. Being carried 
to one of the public hospitals, he there recovered so far as 
to be able to confess the whole occurrence, and to ac- 
knowledge that the accident which befell him was a just 
punishment for his impiety. He died shortly after — 
fortunately indeed for himself, for had he recovered, he 
would have been sent to the galleys for life. This acci- 
dent afforded a theme to the monks and other priests for 
preaching the great power of the idol statue, and the 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 185 

punishment which all those are sure to meet with who 
impiously commit any thing against the honour and respect 
due to it. A pamphlet was shortly after published by 
order of the pope, wherein were related the miracles per- 
formed by the agency of the brazen St. Peter, and the 
signal vengeance, which, on more occasions than one, 
the latter had taken on those that dishonoured his statue. 
A procession composed of all the clergy in Rome was 
made to the image in order to appease the wrath of the 
angry deity — not God, but Peter or his idol — and many 
days' indulgences were granted to all who devoutly salute 
and kiss his brazen foot on entering the church. Thus 
an accident, which may as well have happened to the 
greatest devotee in the church, as to the one who, through 
levity, seemingly dishonoured the statue, was made a 
foundation on which to build up new lying wonders, and 
thereby stir up the people to an increase of devotion 
toward the wooden and brazen gods of popery. 

The foregoing story may serve for an example of the 
punishment which St. Peter inflicts upon those who 
dare dishonour his image ; the following will exemplify 
the rewards he bestows upon his faithful worshippers. 
A Roman lady of a respectable family, being involved by 
unavoidable misfortunes in great pecuniary difficulties, 
had recourse to the brazen image of St. Peter, as her 
last hope of obtaining wherewith to support her rank in 
society, and give her children an education suitable to 
their birth. She was left a widow with a large family. 
Her husband had died suddenly, and his property was 
seized upon by his creditors. She had, while living in 
affluence, a very great devotion toward the image of St. 
Peter, which is worshipped in the church called after his 
name at Rome, and was wont for a number of years to 
visit it daily, and prostrating herself before it, to pour 
forth her soul in prayer and thanksgiving. This 
pious exercise she did not discontinue on being plunged 
into poverty ; nay, poverty had quite a contrary effect 
upon her, for it only made her more urgent in her pray- 
ers, and excited her to cast her afflictions at the feet of 
the blessed apostle, and confidently demand his assist- 

17* 



* ♦ 



186 SIX TEARS IN THE 

ance. The greater number of her children were females, 
(the legend does not say how many they were in all,) 
two of whom were now marriageable, and although of 
handsome persons, they were nevertheless unable to find' 
any young men, their equals, who would be willing to 
take them as wives, on account of their want of fortune. 
One of them was sought in marriage by a rich man, who, 
upon discovering her want of dowry, withdrew his suit. 
This was most painful to the afflicted mother, who had 
no other way to assuage her grief, than to proceed, as 
usual, to St. Peter's, and recommend herself and family 
to the protection of the prince of the apostles. The 
blessed apostle, compassionating the poor woman's afflic- 
tion, and being, moreover, well pleased* with the heart- 
felt devotion she exhibited toward himself, resolved to 
mitigate her sufferings, and present her with the means 
of portioning her daughters. For this purpose, he ap- 
peared to her a dream, and commanded her to approach 
the throne of his successor in the government of the 
Christian church, and lay open to him her difficulties, 
adding, that he himself would prepare the mind of the 
vicar of Christ for her reception. She, upon awaking 
from sleep, recollected the dream, but imagining it to be 
a delusion of the imagination, neglected to perform what 
she was commanded. On returning to the church the 
following day, she cast herself, as she was accustomed 
to do, on her knees before the image of St. Peter, and 
renewed her former supplications. The apostle appear- 
ed to her again, while in an ecstasy on her knees, and 
chided her for not obeying his commands. She con- 
sidered this second vision, as well as the first, a delusion; 
and accordingly treated it as such. In fine, St. Peter 

* This will bring to the reader's memory the description of sa- 
crifices offered up to appease the wrath of an offended heathen god. 
The description of such sacrifices are frequently to be met with in 
the ancient Greek and Latin poets. The god in whose honour they 
are performed is represented " well pleased" with the odour of the 
burnt-offerings. The modern god Peter is represented by his de- 
votees well pleased with the prayers offered up to himself; without 
considering, how much such prayers derogate from the honour due 
to the only true God. 



•♦ • 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 187 

appeared to her the third time, (there is some great virtue 
attached to the number "//iree," by popular superstition,) 
and with an angry countenance commanded her to pro- 
ceed forthwith to his successor, the reigning pope, and 
ask from him in his (St. Peter's) name, for as much as 
might be sufficient for the decent maintenance of herself 
and family. She now resisted no longer ; and immediate- 
ly set about obtaining access to the throne of his holiness ; 
being confident, that the communication made to her was 
not a delusion of the imagination, but had its foundation 
in truth. On obtaining an audience, and after going 
through the usual ceremonies practised by all who ap- 
proach the presence of the vicar of Christ, (such as kiss- 
ing the slipper, falling upon the knees, &c.) she related 
the visions with which she had been favoured by the 
prince of the apostles ; and how he had commanded her 
to lay her necessities and troubles before him, his suc- 
cessor in the government of the church. The holy father 
(thus the pope is styled) listened to her with kindness 
and attention ; and after she had concluded her address, 
told her that he himself had also been visited by St. 
Peter, who exhorted him to receive with kindness a poor 
widow, who would in a short time present herself before 
him. He then related his own vision to the surrounding 
attendants, all of whom fell on their knees, and adored 
the holy representative of Christ, who was thus manifest- 
ly guided in his actions by the influence of the Holy 
Spirit. He exhorted the holy widow to persevere in her 
devotion toward the image of St. Peter, and promised to 
provide from the public treasury for herself and her 
children. This promise was fulfilled a short time after- 
ward ; an annuity was settled upon the widow by com- 
mand of his holiness, and her children were provided for 
in different ways ; some being established in the married 
state, and others dedicated to the service of the church, 
in which they became useful members, through the 
powerful protection of their patron, the brazen idol of St. 
Peter. Thus (continues the annalist) was this pious 
widow and her family relieved from poverty and distress 
by the favour of the blessed apostle, who took that method 



188 SIX YEARS IN THE 

to reward those who were devoted to his worship. By 
her example, all should be excited to a firm reliance upon 
his power and goodness, and to a heartfelt adoration of 
his sacred image. 

By such absurd and ridiculous tales as these related, is 
the popular superstition kept alive, and the minds of the 
people imbued with the soul-killing system of idolatry, 
which Rome teaches her followers in lieu of the life- 
giving truth as it is in Jesus. By giving credence to 
the lying wonders and nonsensical inventions of monks, 
and other self-interested men, they are led to place their 
hopes, not only of temporal blessings, but also of ever- 
lasting salvation, on the intercession and protection of 
the saint, whose image they worship with peculiar devo- 
tion, and not on the providential care of God, and the 
all-sufficient atonement of his Son. Indeed, so deluded 
do the people become by the incessant repetition of such 
tales by their priests, in the confessional, pulpit, and pri- 
vate conversations, that they almost lose all forms of 
Christian worship, and give themselves up entirely to 
the worship of the fictitious gods of brass and wood. 
Among the uneducated peasantry, especially, fables of 
this kind gain the greatest credence. Nothing is talked of in 
their meetings and conversations with each other, but the 
favours bestowed on some of their neighbours at the in- 
tercession of Saint Such-a-one, whose image is worship- 
ped in such a place. If their sheep should be infected 
with the rot, or their vineyards destroyed by hail, do 
they, perhaps, recur to Him who alone can effectually 
assist them ? No, indeed, for this would be too much 
like Christianity. By the advice of the priest, masses 
must be celebrated and candles offered at the shrine of 
some saint, in order to appease the anger of the god who 
inhabits it. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 18& 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Images of the Virgin Mary — La Santa Casa di Loretto — History 
of the Holy House — Income of the priests attached to it — Sale of 
vermin — The miraculous image of the Virgin Mary at Basil — Ex- 
pedient of the priests for reviving the dying superstition — Letter 
of the Virgin Mary to a reformed clergyman — Notes explanatory 
of the foregoing letter — Late repentance — Litany of the Virgin — 
St. Peter, gate-keeper of heaven — Gulielmus— ^George — St. An- 
thony, protector of swine — Different offices assigned to the crowd 
of saints in the popish calendar— -Reflections. 

Were I to make separate mention of half the wonder- 
ful images which are scattered up and down through the 
different churches of Italy, I should be obliged to trans- 
gress the limits laid down for this work : indeed, a simple 
catalogue of their names alone would fill a good-sized 
volume. I shall, therefore, not to tire the reader, con- 
fine myself to a few of the more remarkable, passing 
over in silence those of less note. Of the former class, 
wherever they are to be found, whether at Rome or 
Turin, Milan or Naples, the images of the Madonna are 
always held in the greatest estimation, and innumerable 
miracles are said to be performed in favour of those who 
devoutly pray before them. The Madonna answers in 
every respect to a heathen goddess, and perhaps the 
worship paid to her different pictures and statues is more 
revolting than that paid to the celebrated image of the 
Ephesian Diana. Her statues and pictures are so 
numerous, that, had she the power of animating one- 
fourth of them, she could justly be said to have acquired 
in some degree the attribute of ubiquity, if not in her 
own person, at least in that of the various statues and 
pictures by which she is represented. Some of these, 
but especially the pictures, are master-pieces of art ; 
while others, on the contrary, do not in any way flatter 
the Virgin for her personal beauty. They are, however, 
generally of the former class ; some countenances being 



190 SIX YEARS IN THE 

so exquisitely beautiful that they probably gave rise to 
the well known verses of a late poet, who, when relating 
the early education of his Spanish hero, represents him as 

Turning from martyrs and hermits hairy, 
To the sweet pictures of the Virgin Mary. 

Pictures and images of the Madonna are placed in the 
principal streets of Rome and other cities, to which are 
affixed lamps, kept burning all night in honour of the 
goddess. Indulgences are granted to all who bow down 
before them, and repeat a few Pater-nosters and Ave 
Marias in their honour. A tablet is always attached* to 
the frame, or to some other part of the picture, on which 
is written its history, the manner it was discovered, 
and the numerous favours obtained at its intercession. 
Some are related to have been sent down from heaven ; 
others, to have fled of their own accord from the hands 
of Turks, or other infidels ; others, to have moved the 
head or eyes ; in fine, there is no picture of the Ma- 
donna to which popular superstition does not attribute 
some miracle or other. The number of days' or years' 
indulgences to be obtained for the trouble of repeating a 
"Pater-noster" and "Ave Maria," is then related, followed 
by the signature and seal of the pope or bishop by whom 
such indulgences have been granted. The usual form 
of these grants is conceived in words of the following 
import, either in Latin or Italian, but more frequently in 

the latter language : — Monseignor N , or Sua Santita 

N , concede un anno, d'indulgenza a tutti li fedeli, 

per ogni volta, che divotamente recitano " un Pater-noster 
ed un Ave Maria," avanti questa sacra imagine di Maria 

santissima. (The Most Reverend Bishop N , or 

His Holiness N , grants one year's indulgence to all 

the faithful for every time they devoutly repeat "the 
Lord's prayer, and the hail Mary" before this sacred 
image of the most holy Mary.) 

The image of the Virgin, to which all her other 
images yield the palm, is that worshipped at Loretto, an 
insignificant village in the pope's states. This image is 
preserved in the " Santa Casa," or Holy House, which 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 191 

tradition reports — and the pope has sealed such a report 
with his infallible authority, so as to make it an article 
of faith, and therefore essential to the salvation of man — 
to have been transported by angels from Nazareth to 
Dalmatia, and thence to the papal states, where it now 
remains. In a book, expressly designed for instructing 
in the miracles and history of the Holy House, the pil- 
grims who come in crowds from all parts of Italy, and 
other countries, in order to pay their devoirs to the Vir- 
gin, there may be found the following narrative of the 
manner in which the papal states obtained possession of 
this miraculous house, and of the equally miraculous 
image and relics which are preserved in it for the adora- 
tion of the faithful. This book is called " La storia della 
casa miracolosa della Vergine Maria Lauretana," (The 
history of the miraculous house of the Virgin Mary of 
Loretto.) printed at the Vatican press, and approved by 
the " Master of the sacred apostolic palace," — colla ap- 
provazione della sacra aula apostolica. Hence there can 
be no doubt, that the monstrous lies which are imbodied 
in it are sanctioned by the authority of the infallible 
church, and of its equally infallible head, the pope. It 
begins with the bull of Pope Somebody, confirming its 
contents, and anathematizing, as usual, all who would 
call in question the truth of any thing related in it. It 
then goes on to inform its reader that the Holy House 
was built in Nazareth of Galilee by Joachim, the father 
of the Virgin Mary, and that, at his death, he bequeathed 
it to his beloved daughter,, the mother of Christ. That 
Jesus was educated, and lived in this same house for 
twelve years, and assisted Joseph, his mother's husband, 
who exercised the trade of a carpenter under its roof. 
After the death of Mary — who, by-the-way, is believed 
to have been taken alive into heaven, by what authority, 
I never could learn — the house continued in the posses- 
sion of her nearest in kindred till the time of Titus 
Vespasian, who, with his conquering army, devastated 
Galilee, and razed the town of Nazareth to the ground. 
The Holy House was at this time protected by a corps 
of angels, sent down from heaven to guard it, so that 



192 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Titus could not remove one single stone, or cause any 
damage to it. It remained quietly in Nazareth till the 
year 1291, when, Galilee falling into the hands of the 
infidels, and every Christian being put to the sword, the 
Holy House thought it full time to consult for its own 
preservation. It, accordingly, commanded its angel- 
guards to lift it from its foundations and transfer it to 
some Christian country. The angels, obedient to the 
commands, immediately complied, and bare it through 
the air into Dalmatia. There it remained for three years, 
when, taking offence at the irreverence with which it 
was treated by the inhabitants, it again emigrated, and, 
by the same agency as on the former occasion, it was set 
down in a wood convenient to the town of Recanati, in 
the papal state. The trees bowed down to the ground 
at its approach, and thus remained in reverence during 
the eight months it remained in their neighbourhood. 
But being of a migratory disposition, and unwilling to 
bear the seclusion in which it was held by being stationed 
in the middle of a thick forest, it again took flight, and 
established itself contentedly at Loretto, where it now 
remains. Nor is it likely that it will soon leave the lat- 
ter place, for it is imprisoned in a magnificent church, 
built designedly for that purpose. " Thus," (says this 
veracious history,) " has God vouchsafed to grant to 
the country, wherein he established the chief seat of 
his religion, a convincing proof of the estimation in 
which that country is held by him ; and a sure refuge 
in the hour of peril to those who flee for protection under 
the wings of the mother of his Son — sotto Vale delta 
madre del suo jiglio.'''' 

This image, to which so many miracles are attributed, 
and before which so many disgusting scenes of worse 
than pagan idolatry are daily practised, is black, and so 
extremely ugly, that certainly it cannot be for its beauty 
that it is held in such estimation. It is gaudily dressed, 
and literally laden with magnificent jewels, and other 
precious articles. An infant, representing the child 
Jesus, is placed in its arms, of the same colour as the 
mother, and also surrpunded by a magnificent show of 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 193 

finery. Devotees come from all parts of Italy on pil- 
grimages to this shrine, to whom the dust of the walls, 
the cobwebs, nay, even the very spiders, are sold at ex- 
traordinary prices ; for the image and house are not 
only holy themselves, but also give holiness to whatever 
is touched by them. I have seen myself, on visiting 
Loretto about four years ago, a pebble taken from the 
walls of the Santa Casa, sold for ten Roman scudi, or 
dollars, and an unfortunate mouse, that was found con- 
cealing itself among the folds of the Virgin's dress, sold 
for as much as would buy a good ox. This mouse was 
embalmed by the gentleman who bought it, — a Piedmont- 
ese pilgrim, — and enclosed in a silver box, to be kept by 
him and his posterity as a certain and infallible remedy 
against all diseases and accidents. But, about relics, 
more in the sequel. 

Every mass celebrated within the Santa Casa is paid 
for at the most extraordinary price. I have been assured 
by the keepers of the house, who were monks of my own 
order — Capuchins ; that between masses and lands, and 
the gifts of the pilgrims, the annual income of the church 
at Loretto amounts to more than 50,000 dollars. The 
French army, while in Italy, took the liberty of depriving 
the Madonna of the greater part of her treasure, having 
pillaged the church of whatever things of value they could 
lay hands upon. The chest, in which were preserved 
some valuable gems, was secreted by one of the old 
priests, and by him restored after the French evacuated 
Italy. This act of honesty is really worthy of praise, if 
it were done through an unwillingness to keep what did 
not belong to him ; but it is very probable, that his virtue 
would hardly resist the temptation, had the gems belonged 
to any less powerful personage than the Madonna, and I 
am, therefore, inclined to think, that superstition had a 
greater influence on his mind than natural honesty. Be 
that as it may, it is certain that the gems saved from the 
French soldiery were returned, and are now used for de- 
corating the person of her smutty majesty, the queen of 
heaven. There is a dean and chapter attached to the 
church of Loretto, whose duty it is to recite daily the 

18 



194 SIX YEARS IN THE 

office of the Madonna, and of some other saints, for which 
they receive a princely salary. Twelve Capuchins are 
also of the goddess' household, and these have the care of 
the holy house, as it would be deemed a mortal sin, and 
to be atoned for only by death, if any one less than a priest 
dared to enter the presence of the queen. To them, there- 
fore, it belongs to sweep and clean the holy house, and 
to collect the sanctified dust, the insects, vermin, and all 
other things, of no value in themselves, but of the great- 
est, when touched, either designedly or accidentally, by 
the garments or any other thing belonging to the Holy 
Virgin. Nor is this all, the things touched by the image 
have also received the power of sanctifying other things 
in turn ; but the latter are esteemed of minor efficacy than 
the former, and therefore are not so much sought after. 
The Capuchins are paid so much annually for their ser- 
vices, as domestics of the Virgin — -I believe 500 dollars 
each ; and have also no small emolument from the sale 
of the sweepings which they collect, and which, or rather 
the money obtained for them from idiotical pilgrims, they 
are obliged to divide fairly with the other persons belong- 
ing to her majesty's suit. Thus the Italian proverb 
" vendere lucciole per lanterne" — to sell fire-flies for lan- 
terns, is literally acted upon by those deceivers of the souls 
of their fellow creatures. 

A relation of the many fables and pseudo-miracles 
which are propagated by the priests and monks attached 
to the service of the Lauretan goddess, would be found quite 
uninteresting to the reader. I shall, therefore, pass them 
over in silence, only remarking, that they are so numerous 
as to fill five ponderous folio volumes, entitled, in Latin, 
" Flores et Miracula Virgines Mariae Lauretanae :" — (The 
flowers and miracles of the Virgin Mary of Loretto ;) and 
so ridiculous and glaringly false as to make the most 
zealous advocates of popery blush for the honour and ve- 
racity of their infallible church ; — and this is saying a 
great deal, for it is no easy matter to make either popish 
divines or popish annalists blush through consciousness 
of having committed to writing a monstrous farrago of 
lies, especially when they are aware that such falsehoods 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 195 

were fabricated for " the good of the church," and that, 
therefore, the end always excuses the means. 

There existed a famous miracle-working image of the 
Madonna in the city of Basil, before the reformation. 
This image was of stone, and drew pilgrims from all parts 
of Italy and France to its shrine, whence the priests, 
attached to its service, derived great emoluments. Upon 
the breaking out of the reformation in Germany, and 
when the people began to be instructed in the pure reli- 
gion of Christ, pilgrimages to the shrine of this idol became 
every day less frequent, and as gospel light made greater 
progress, they were discontinued altogether. This was 
severely felt by the priests, who, in order to make a last 
struggle for the revival of the nearly extinct superstition, 
thought upon an expedient, by which they hoped to 
recover in part their unhallowed gains. Ridiculous as it 
may seem, this was no other than to forge a letter ad- 
dressed to the people of Basil, which they gave out to be 
written in heaven by the Virgin Mary herself, and brought 
by angels who placed it at the foot of her statue, where it 
was found by a pious priest, devoted to the worship of 
the marble virgin. In this letter she chides the people 
for their want of devotion toward her image, and, like 
another offended Diana, threatens them with heavy chas- 
tisement, unless they immediately make reparation to her 
insulted deity. Erasmus has founded his letter of the 
Virgin, written also in heaven, to a Lutheran minister of 
the 15th century, on this forgery of the priests of Basil. 
He wittily ridicules the prevailing superstition of that 
period, and makes the Virgin say, what very probably 
she would say, had she been able to hear the blasphemous 
prayers and vows offered up at her shrines by the de- 
luded victims of popish errors. It may not be thought 
superfluous to give the letter entire, as it exists in the 
colloquy called " peregrinatio religionis ergo," (wander- 
ing through religious motives.) It is addressed under a 
fictitious name to some zealous reformed clergyman of 
that period, and is feigned to have been found by him in 
the pulpit, on his ascending it to address his congregation : 
" Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Glaucoplutus, health. 



196 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Because following the doctrines of Luther, you teach that 
it is useless to invoke the saints, know, that you have 
obtained great favour with me on this account. For, 
before your preaching, but little was wanting that I was 
not killed from listening to the wicked petitions of man- 
kind. From me alone every thing was demanded, as if 
my son was for ever to remain an infant, as he is painted 
in my arms ; and as if he entirely depended upon my 
will, and would not dare deny any thing which I might 
be pleased to ask of him, fearing lest I, in turn, should 
deny him the breast, which he would feel desirous to 
drink. Sometimes these my worshippers, demand from 
me, a virgin, things which a modest youth could scarcely 
have the face to ask from a woman of ill fame ; things, 
indeed, which I am ashamed to commit to writing. The 
merchant setting out for Spain recommends to my care 
the chastity of his concubine. The nun, dedicated to 
God, thinking upon flying from her nunnery, and having 
thrown aside her veil, leaves to my care the fame of her 
integrity, which she herself is on the point of prostituting. 
The impious soldier, hired to butcher his fellow creatures, 
cries out before me, ' blessed Virgin, give me a plenti- 
ful harvest of plunder.' The gamester cries out, ' Favour 
me, O goddess ; a part of the gains will be given to you :' 
and if the game should turn against him, he reproaches 
and curses me, because I was not propitious and favour- 
able to his wickedness. The harlot, who lets out her 
body for hire, prays, ' Give me an abundant income ;' 
and if I deny her, then she exclaims, 'that I am not a 
mother of mercy.'' The prayers of others are not so 
wicked as they are foolish. The unmarried girl exclaims, 

* Give me, O holy Mary, a handsome and rich husband.' 
The married, ' Give me handsome children.' The en- 
ceinte, 'Give me an easy accouchement.'' The old woman, 

* Grant me a lpng life, without cough or thirst.' The 
childish old man, ' Grant me the power of again becoming 
young.' The philosopher prays for the power of form- 
ing incomprehensible arguments ; the priest prays for a 
rich benefice ; the bishop, for the protection of his church ; 
the sailor, for prosperous voyages ; the courtier, for a sin- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 197 

cere confession of his sins at the hour of death ; (*) the 
farmer, for seasonable rain ; the farmer's wife, for the 
health and preservation of the cattle. If I deny any of 
these favours, immediately I am called ' a cruel woman ;' 
and if I send them to my son, I am then answered, ' he 
wishes whatever you wish.' Thus on me alone, a wo- 
man and a virgin, is thrown the care of sailors, soldiers, 
merchants, gamesters, bachelors, women in travail, kings, 
and husbandmen. But I am now less troubled with busi- 
ness of this kind, for which I should have been very thank- 
ful to you, had not this advantage brought with it also 
disadvantages : there is less trouble, but there is also less 
honour, and less emoluments. Before your preaching, 
I was saluted ' Queen ( 2 ) of the heavens? * Mistress of 
the world ;' now I scarcely hear from a few worshippers 
* Hail, Mary.'' Before, I was clad in gems and gold ; I 
had a well supplied wardrobe ; rich gifts were offered 
to me : now I am scarcely covered with the half of an old 
cloak, and that same gnawed by mice ; while my annual 
income is scarcely sufficient for .the support of one mise- 
rable priest, who might light a little lamp, or a tallow- 
candle in honour of me. But I could even suffer these 
things, degrading as they are, had not even worse been in 
preparation. You have a design, people say, of thrusting 
out of the sacred temples the whole crowd of gods ! 
(saints !) Beware, again and again beware of what you are 
about. There are not wanting to the other gods ways 
and means of revenging the injuries committed against 
their majesty. If Peter ( 3 ) be shut out of the temple, take 
care that he, in retaliation, shut not against you the gate 
of the heavenly kingdom. Paul( 4 ) has a sword, and 
Bartholomew ( 5 ) is armed with a knife ; William, under 
the habit of a monk, will be found encased in a heavy 
coat of mail, and brandishing a long spear. ( 6 ) But how 
are you to defend yourself against George, ( 7 ) a knight, 
surrounded with armed men, and formidable both on 
account of his lance and sword 1 Nor is Anthony ( 8 ) 
himself unarmed, for he has the sacred fire. There are 
also their peculiar arms to the other gods, which they 
use in inflicting on their enemies sickness, and other mis- 

18* 



198 SIX YEARS IN THE 

fortunes, which cannot be cured without the invocation 
of their assistance. ( 9 )* As for my own part, you cer- 
tainly shall not thrust me, though unarmed, from the 
temple, unless you also thrust out my son, whom I hold 
in my arms. I will not suffer myself to be violently 
separated from him ; for either you must turn him out 
with me, or suffer both of us to remain, unless, indeed, 
you choose rather a temple without a Christ. These 
things I wished to make known to you ; do you ponder 
what answer is to be returned to me, for I am deeply 
interested in the subject. Dated from my marble temple, 
on the calends of August, in the year of my crucified 
son, 1524. 

I, a marble virgin, have signed it with my own hand. 
Mary-Virgin, the Mother of Jesus. 

I subjoin the original Latin, for the satisfaction of 
those who may feel desirous of seeing this curious epis- 
tle in its original language. It is, like all other of Eras- 
mus' writings, written with classical purity, and in a 
style well worthy of imitation by all lovers of pure 
latinity. It is, indeed, widely different from the barba- 
risms of the greater part of Romish theologians, who 
had not even the merit of conveying their errors in beau- 
tiful language ; indeed, the whole, merit of their works 
consisted in being incomprehensible. 

Maria mater JesuGlaucopluto S. D. Quod Lutherum 
sequutus strenue suades, supervacaneum esse invocare 
divos, a me quidem isto nomine bonam magnamque 
inivisti gratiam, scito. Nam ante hoc, tantum non 
enecabar improbis mortalium opplorationibus. Ab una 
postulabantur omnia, quasi nlius meus semper infans 
esset, quia talis fingitur, pingiturque in sinu meo, ut ex 
nutu matris adhuc pendeat, neque quidquam ausit negare 
petenti, videlicet metuens, ne si quid neget roganti, ego 
vicissim ipsi negem mammam sitienti. Et nonnunquam 
ea petunt a Virgine, quae verecundus juvenis vix auderet 
petere a lena, quaeque me pudet litteris committere. In- 

* See notes from (1) to (9) at the end of this chapter. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 199 

terim negotiator lucri causa navigaturus in Hispaniam, 
committit mihi pudicitiam suae concubinae. Et virgo Deo 
sacra, abjecto velo fugam adornans, deponit apud me 
famam integritatis suae, quam ipsa tendit prostituere. 
Occlamat mihi miles et ad laniendam conductus, Beata 
Virgo, da praedam opimam. Occlamat aleator, Fave, 
diva, pars lucri tibi decidetur. Et si parum faveat alea, 
me conviciis lacerant, maleque precantur, quae non adfu- 
erim sceleri. Occlamat quae quaestui turpi semet exponit, 
Da proventum uberem. Si quid negem, illico reclamant, 
Ergone sis mater misericordiae. Aliorum vota non tarn 
impia sunt, quam inepta. Clamat innupta, Da mihi for- 
mosum ac divitem sponsum. Clamat nupta, Da mihi bel- 
los catulos. Clamat gravida, Da mihi facilem partum. 
Clamat anus : Da diu vivere sine tussi sitique. Clamat 
senex delirus : Da repubescere. Clamat philosophus : 
Da nodos insolubiles nectere. Clamat sacerdos : Da 
sacerdotium opimum. Clamat episcopus : Serva meam 
ecclesiam. Clamat nauta : Da prosperos cursus. Clamat 
aulicus : Da vere confiteri in articulo mortis. Clamat 
rusticus : Da tempestivam pluviam. Clamat rustica : 
Serva gregem et armentum incolume. Si quid renuo, 
illico sum crudelis. Si relego ad filium, audio : Vult 
ille, quidquid tu vis. Itane ego sola et mulier et virgo 
dabo operam navigantibus, belligerantibus, negotiantibus, 
ludentibus aleam, nubentibus, parturientibus, regibus, et 
agricolis ? Atqui quod dixi, minimum est prae his quae 
patior. Sed his negotiis nunc multo minus gravor : quo 
quidem nomine tibi gratias agerem maximas, nisi com- 
modum hoc incommodum majus secum traheret : plus 
est otii, sed minus est honorum, minus est opum. 
Antea salutabar Regina ccelorum, Domini mundi : nunc 
vix a paucis audio, Ave Maria. Antea vestiebar gemmis 
et auro, abundabam mutatoriis, deferebantur aurea gem- 
meaque donaria : nunc vix tegor dimidiato palliolo, eoque 
corroso a muribus. Proventus autem annui vix tan turn, 
ut alam miserum cedituum, qui accendat lucernulam aut 
candelam sebaceam. Atque haec tamen poterant ferri, ni 
majora etiam moliri dicereris. Hue tendis, ut ajunt, ut 
quidquid usquam est divorum, exigas ex aedibus sacris. 



200 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Etiam atque etiam, vide quid agas. Non deest aliis 
divis quo suam ulciscantur injuriam. Ejectus e templo 
Petrus, potest tibi vicessim occludere regni coelestis 
ostium. Paulus habet gladium ; Bartholemaeus cultro 
armatus est ; Guilielmus sub pallio monachi totus arma- 
tus est, non sine gravi lancea. Quid autem agas cum 
Georgio et equite et cataphracto, hasta simul et gladio 
formidabili ? Nee inermis est Antonius ; habet secum 
sacrum ignem. Sunt item et caeteris sua vel arma, vel 
mala, quae, quibus volunt, immittunt. Me vero quan- 
tumvis inermem, non tamen ejicies, nisi simul ejecto filio, 
quem ulnis teneo. Ab hoc non me patiar divelli : aut 
nunc una mecum extrudes, aut utrumque relinques, nisi 
mavis habere templum sine Christo. Haec te scire volui : 
tu cogita, quid mihi respondendum censeas. Nam mihi 
plane res cordi est. Ex aede nostra lapidea, calendis 
Augusti, anno filii mei passi 1524. Virgo lapidea mea 
manu subscripsi. 

Maria Virgo Mater Jesu. 

(1) Hour of death. — Many papists imagine, that if they be so 
fortunate as to be able to make a true confession of their sins, when 
at the point of death ; and if they obtain absolution from the mouth 
of the priest, they can have no difficulty, whatever may have been 
their former lives, or however sinfully they may have lived, of im- 
mediately entering heaven, or at least purgatory. It is distressing to 
think on the number of immortal souls lost, irretrievably lost for all 
eternity, who died trusting to this delusive hope. The pagan poet 
thought better on this subject than popish theologians ; for he ex- 
pressly says, " late repentance is seldom true," — perhaps never — 
" Paenitentia sera raro vera est." 

(2) In the litany of the Virgin, sung by immense numbers of her 
devotees, before the images or pictures representing her with the 
child Jesus in her arms, she is styled, " the queen of heaven ; the 
refuge of sinners ; the help of Christians ; morning star ; our only 
hope ; consoler of the afflicted ;" with many other epithets, all dero- 
gating from the honour of God, and offensive to the ears of those 
who have at heart the pure unadulterated worship of their Creator. 

(3) It has been mentioned before, that St. Peter is made the gate- 
keeper of heaven ; or, as a Frenchmen would call him, " le suisse." 
He is always painted with keys of immense size, either suspended 
from his girdle, or in his hands. St. Paul is also painted with a 
sword in his hands ; for what reason I do not know, unless it be 
that the sword was the instrument of his martyrdom. The apostle 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 201 

Bartholomew is represented holding a knife, in some of his pictures 
though in others he is painted holding a cross, made in the form of 
the letter X, on which tradition says he suffered death. 
(4) and (5)— See the note (9.) 

(6) Guilielmus, or William, is said to have been a Roman knight, 
who suffered death in one of the early ages of the church. He is 
said to have relinquished all his secular greatness, and to have become 
a monk in one of the eremitical monasteries of Egypt. Being 
brought before the Roman governor, he was commanded to sacrifice 
to the idols, and upon refusing, was given over to the executioner. 

(7) George was tribune of the soldiers (tribunus militum) under 
Dioclesian. Having refused to abjure the religion of Christ, he was, 
by command of that persecuting emperor, given up to be devoured 
by wild beasts. He is made by papists the special protector of sol- 
diers, on account, I suppose, of his former profession. Query. Is 
he the same with St. George, the patron saint of England ] 

(8) St. Anthony, the protector of swine and swineherds, is also 
celebrated for the power which he is supposed to possess of curing a 
cutaneous disease, called after his name, " St. Anthony's j6re." He 
is painted in the dress of a monk, surrounded with a herd of swine, 
who seem to regard their keeper with marks of affection, if it be pos- 
sible that affection could be portrayed on the face of a — pig. Some 
painters have attempted it, and I have seen one painting in a church, 
dedicated to this saint, wherein affection was admirably expressed on 
the faces of these self-willed animals. He is worshipped with pecu- 
liar devotion among the mountains of Norcia and Ascoli, by reason 
of these mountains being planted with innumerable oak trees, on the 
acorns of which the swine are fattened. The owners, in order to 
call down his blessing upon their flocks, build altars to his honour, 
and worship him in many other extravagant, as well as unchristian 
ways. 

(9) Papists, as well as pagans of old, attribute a peculiar power 
to each of their saints. Thus, different offices are assigned to differ- 
ent saints. One is made the patron of those who labour under a 
sore throat, as St Blaisius ; another of women labouring in child- 
birth; another of children, &c. The saints are said to vindicate 
themselves on their lukewarm worshippers, by sending down upon 
them the disease which they themselves have the power of curing. 
St. Rocco, who is the patron of those sick of the plague, is also 
thought to be of service to those labouring under the venereal dis- 
ease, and a story is related of his having miraculously cured of this 
detestable malady one of his devout worshippers. John the Bap- 
tist is supposed to have the power of afflicting with the falling sick- 
ness, those with whom he has cause to be angry. Hubert can afflict 
his opponents with a decline, and so on of the other saints. Each 
trade in Rome has its own peculiar saint-protector. St. Crispin is 
made the patron of shoemakers ; St. Luke of painters, because tradi- 



202 SIX YEARS IN THE 

tion relates, that he was of that trade ; and there is shown in the 
church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome, a picture of the Madonna, 
painted by him, which is said to have performed many miracles. 
Though we learn from the apostolical epistles that he was a physi- 
cian, yet greater belief is given to the vague tradition of his having 
been a painter, and therefore he is made a pattern of painters, and 
not of physicians — though, indeed, the latter have generally too 
much good sense to claim his protection for their profession, or to be 
angry of his not being dubbed their patron. Mary Magdalen is the 
protector of harlots, and Cecilia of singers and musicians — and in 
fine, every trade, every profession, every malady, and every occur- 
rence of life, have each and every one of them their own particular 
saint and protector, who is worshipped by those interested, with 
greater devotion than they ever worship the one and true God. 
The reader will easily discern, from what has been said on this sub- 
ject, the great affinity there is between popery and paganism. If 
the pagans had their Mercury, their Mars, their Apollo, their Juno, 
and their Venus, the papists have their Francis, their George, their 
Christopher, their Peter, their Cecilia, their Mary Magdalen, and, to 
govern all, they have their queen of heaven — their Madonna. But 
I fear the reader is long since tired by the repetition of such trash, 
and no wonder, for indeed I have carried the subject farther than the 
limits of a note would warrant. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Continuation of remarks upon image-worship — Popish unity — Ma- 
donna delta lettcra at Messina — The Virgin Mary a linguist — 
Copy of the Virgin's letter to the Messinians — Translation of the 
foregoing — Spain, and its idolatries — Spanish Jesuits — Spanish 
form of salutations — Portugal — Don Miguel favoured by the priests 
—A miracle wrought in confirmation of his authority — The Virgin 
delivered of a boy twelve years old— Effect of the discovery on Don 
Miguel's government — Concluding remarks upon image-worship. 

There are other celebrated Madonnas scattered through 
the different churches of Italy ; each one of which has 
its own particular history, and its own miracles attached 
to it ; for popory is certainly one in more senses than its 
advocates imagine, when they take unity as an argument 
in favour of its beinp- the true church of Christ. It is one 
also in its system of imposture. The same arts are made 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 203 

use of, and the same lies fabricated for its support, in the 
capital of Spain, as in the capital of Italy ; in the city of 
the false prophet, as in the country of Confucius ; there 
being subjects of the pope both in the one and the other, 
as we learn from the relation of travellers, and as is evi- 
dent from students of these countries being educated at 
the college of the Propaganda in Rome. Miracles then, 
and other lying wonders, are fabricated on the spot by the 
acting ministers of popery, in every country where it 
exists ; and for this reason, the idolizing of the Madonna 
being an essential article of that church, her images are 
all supplied with stories and miracles by the priests of the 
country where such images are worshipped ; differing 
very little, if any at all, (for the imagination of an inventor 
of falsehoods is with time exhausted,) from the miracles 
attributed to images of the same, worshipped in very 
distant parts of the world. I shall relate a story of one 
more Italian Madonna, venerated in the cathedral church 
of Messina in Sicily, and then pass on to a view of image- 
worship, as practised in other parts of Europe. 

As Naples has its Januarius to protect it from the 
burning lava of Vesuvius ; so also has Messina its Ma- 
donna to protect it from the like evil threatened to it from 
its vicinity to Mongibello, or Mount Etna. The Ma- 
donna of the Messinians — called also "la Madonna della 
lettera" — if we believe the history of it, as preserved in 
the archives of the cathedral of Messina, was sent down 
from heaven, and placed on the altar where it now stands, 
by the hands of angels ; for the especial protection of the 
inhabitants. The Virgin was well pleased with the No- 
venas, Triduos, fyc* performed in honour of her, and 
to manifest this pleasure to her faithful people, she thought 
it advisable (if we can use such a word, when speaking 
of a goddess) to send them her image manufactured in 
heaven, in token of it— -just as a young woman makes a 
present of her portrait to her lover, in token of her love. 

* Novena and tridua. By such terms are meant certain days set 
apart for the more particular worship of the gods of popery. The 
former is a feast of nine days' continuance, the latter of three. 



204 SIX YEARS IN THE 

The image was accompanied by a letter addressed to the 
bishop, clergy, and laity of the diocess of Messina, wherein 
she assures them of her perpetual protection and favour, 
in reward of their devotion toward her, and encourages 
them to continue in rendering her the honours due to 
her, as the " mother of Christ" " gate of heaven" and 
" consoler of the afflicted:" assuring them at the same 
time, that such honours paid to her were most pleasing 
to her son, Jesus ; and not in the least displeasing to him, 
as modern heretics, jealous of her glory, would insinuate. 
This epistle is written in Latin,* and enclosed in a silver 
case, whence it is never taken out but to satisfy the 
curiosity of some dignitary of the church ; or of those 
who are able to bribe the keeper for a more close inspec- 
tion of it. I have myself had the honour of kissing the 
case, and of humbly repeating an "Jive Maria" before the 
sacred scrap of paper. With much difficulty I obtained 
a copy of it, which I have since lost ; but having read it 
so often, I feel confident that I retain in mind the form 
and subject — if not the very words. To the best of my 
recollection, it runs as follows. 

" Maria Virgo, mundi Redemptoris mater, Episcopo, 
clero, caeterisque fidelibus inclytae civitatis Messanensis 
salutem et benedictionem a se, suoque filio impertit. 

" Quod meo cultui consulere in mentem vobis ventum 
est, magnum favorem apud me propter hoc inveniisti, 
scitote. Jampridem situm periculis plenum vestrae civi- 
tatis ob ejus nimiam at Etnaeum ignem propinquitatem, 
haud sine dolore vidi, eaque de re non raro verba habui 
cum filio meo ; sed hactenus ille propter rarum cultum 
mihi a vobis praestitum iratus, meam intercessionem au- 
dire noluit — Nunc autern, vobis resipiscentibus, et cultum 

* It is surprising how learned a lady the Madonna is, for she un- 
derstands nearly all ancient languages, as may be seen from the num- 
ber of her epistles written to the different Latin, Greek, and Armenian 
churches ; all written in the ancient language of the people, to which 
they are directed ; for she seems, either not to understand, or at least 
to think beneath her notice, all modern languages, as none of her 
letters are found written in Italian, or in modern Armenian or modern 
Greek. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 205 

mei feliciter inchoantibus, mei juris benigne fecit, ut ves- 
trum vestraeque civitatis aeterna protectrix essem ; vobis 
veruntamen magno opere cavendum est, ni hujus erga 
vos boni animi pcenitere causam mihi dederitis. Mihi 
vehementer placent orationes et festa in meo honore in- 
dicta ; et si in his rebus fideliter perseveraveritis, et hae- 
reses nunc temporis per vestrum orbem grassantes, quibus 
cultus mihi, caeteroque sanctorum sanctarumque coetui 
debitus maxime periclitatur, summa vi obviam vosmetip- 
sos praebueritis, mea perpetua protectione fruemini. In 
signo hujus pacti rati, imaginem mei a manibus caelesti- 
bus fusam vobis e caelo dimitto ; et si earn digno honore 
tenueritis, signum erit mihi obedientiae vestrae, et fidei. 
Valete. Dabam ex caelo, me sedente juxta thronum Filii 
mei, anno ab ejusdem incarnatione millesimo, quingente- 
simo trigesimo quarto, mense autem Decembris." 

Mary, Virgin and mother of the Redeemer of the world, 
to the bishop, clergy, and the other faithful of Messina, 
health and blessing from herself and her Son. 

Because ye have taken measures for establishing the 
worship of me ; know, that ye have thereby found great 
favour in my sight. Long since I observed, not without 
pain, the situation of your city, too much exposed to 
danger from its contiguity to the fires of Etna, and have 
frequently spoken to my Son on that subject ; but he being 
angry on account of the neglect of my worship, which ye 
have been guilty of, showed himself unwilling to attend 
to my intercession. Now, however, that ye have grown 
wiser, and have happily begun to worship me, I have 
obtained from him the faculty of being your eternal pro- 
tectress ; but I earnestly advise you, at the same time, to 
be careful that ye give me no eause of repenting of this 
my kindness. The prayers and festivals instituted in my 
honour are exceedingly pleasing to me, and if ye faith- 
fully persevere in observing them, and in opposing with 
all your might the heresy which at this time is spread- 
ing through every part of your globe, by which both my 
worship, and that of the other saints and saintesses, is 
endangered ; ye will enjoy my everlasting protection. In 

19 



206 SIX YEARS IN THE 

sign of the ratification of this agreement, I send you down 
from heaven the image of myself, cast* by celestial hands, 
and if ye hold it in that honour which it claims as a re- 
presentation of me, ye will thereby convince me of your 
obedience and faith. Farewell. Dated in Heaven, while 
sitting near the throne of my Son, in the 1534th year 
from his incarnation. Mary Virgin. 

Then follows the signature and seal of the bishop 
who governed the church of Messina at that period, in 
attestation of the genuineness of this curious epistle ; 
and after his name follow those of his vicar-general, 
secretary, and of six canons of the cathedral church. 
Hence may be learned the degree of credibility to which 
popish priests and bishops are entitled. 

Not in Italy only has the worship of the Virgin super- 
seded the worship of the one and true God, but in other 
parts of Europe also, especially in Spain and Portugal, 
and indeed in every place where the contiguity to evan- 
gelical Christians do not make the favourers of idolatry 
blush. The contiguity with Protestants is very probably 
the reason that this article of the popish creed is so little 
practised upon in the Roman Catholic cantons of Swit- 
zerland ; for popery approaches nearer to Christianity in 
the latter country, than I have seen it in any other part 
of Europe. In Spain the worship of the Virgin with 
all its accompanying enormities flourishes, or at least 
did flourish while under the tyranny of the petticoat- 
embroiderer,! the late King Ferdinand. Indeed the 

* It would appear from this that the image is made of brass, or some 
other fusible metal, though it did not appear so to me when I saw it. 
I thought that it was of wood, but I saw the face alone, which is paint- 
ed, the rest of the body being clothed — of course then I was deceived, 
for it is to be presumed that the Virgin Mary knew better than I 
possibly could know, of what this image, which she ordered herself, 
and which she seems to take such trouble about, is composed. 

■j- It is said that the late King of Spain, when obliged to flee from 
Madrid on the approach of Joseph Bonaparte and the French 
army, diverted himself at Seville in the kingly employment of em- 
broidering his wife's petticoats. He also embroidered with his own 
royal hands a complete suit for the Madonna, with which she is clad 
on her principal festivals. He would have made a good man- 
milliner. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 207 

Spanish monarchy was as much upheld by the tongues 
and preaching of the monks and priests, who dissemi- 
nated the slavish doctrines of popery, (for popery, re- 
garded even in a political light, is essentially a slave 
making religion,) as by the bayonets and cannons of the 
Escurial. Spain was formerly more addicted to super- 
stition than even Rome herself. She had her inquisition, 
and her inquisitors, her monks, and her friars, her nuns, 
and — in fine she had all the paraphernalia of the most 
abominable irreligion. Her missionaries were the active 
agents for disseminating the anti-christian doctrines of 
popery, and helped to brutalize more, perhaps, than any 
other nation in the world, the people who were so unfor- 
tunate as to fall under their sway. The Spanish Jesuits 
were certainly the most wily of that wily body. Igna- 
tius Loyola himself was a Spaniard, and the order which 
he instituted is well known to the world, for the injury 
which morality and Christianity suffered through its 
malign influence. Its treachery and deceit was too gross 
even for Rome itself, and therefore, the head of the 
Romish church, to avoid greater evils, and to appease 
the European sovereigns, strongly crying out to a man 
for its suppression, was obliged to take away this rock 
of offence from the eyes of the Christian world. Un- 
willingly, indeed, did Ganganelli (Clement XIV.) sup- 
press the order, for he well knew that he exposed his 
own life to the attacks and machinations of the Jesuits. 
His death, six months after the promulgation of the 
bull for their suppression, fully proved, that the pope's 
fears were not without grounds ; for it is related that 
he met his death by a slow poison, administered to 
him by the emissaries of the Jesuits, or by one of 
that order. Image-worship and Madonna-worship was 
carried to more than pagan excess in Spain, through 
Jesuitical influence. The common salutations of the 
people fully proved that they thought more of the Mo- 
ther than of the Son, and that they could more justly 
be called Virginites than Christians. " Jive Maria 
purisima, (Hail Mary, most pure,) answered by "Sin 
pecado concebida," (Conceived without sin,) was the 



208 SIX TEARS IN THE 

most frequent form of salutation ; the more Christian 
one of "Va usted con Dios" (Go with God,) being ex- 
ploded by common consent, until within a few years back. 
The churches were adorned with costly images and pic- 
tures of this goddess, and divine honours paid to them 
and to her relics. In fine, an evangelical Christian, 
while travelling in this country, could hardly bring him- 
self to think that it had ever been favoured with the light 
of the gospel ; so much is it given up to the detestable 
practices of idolatry. After the suppression of the Je- 
suits and destruction of the inquisition, Spain apparently 
threw off some of the abominations of popery, though 
she still retains enough of them to make her be distin- 
guished among the other nations of Europe, as a country 
having the mark of " the beast" stamped on its forehead 
-—not indelibly, it is hoped — and the seat of bigotry, 
tyranny, and superstition. 

What has been said of Spain, can also be said with 
equal justice when applied to Portugal. The latter 
country was not without its own share of popish corrup- 
tions ; indeed, popery reigned there in as much vigour 
as in any other part of Europe. Madonnanism, or the 
idolatry of the Virgin, was and perhaps is still practised 
there in all its revolting forms. It was renewed with 
fresh vigour in the late contest for the crown, between 
Don Miguel and his brother Don Pedro. The former, 
in order to conciliate the minds of the clergy, and through 
them, of the people, to his usurped authority, thought it 
advisable to favour every kind of superstition, and none 
more so than the worship of the Madonna. The priests, 
in return, to repay him for his kindness toward them- 
selves, and to excite the popular feelings in his favour, 
lost no opportunity of preaching the justice of his cause, 
of praising him for his attention to religious ceremonies, 
and of holding him forth as a most holy personage, and 
as one well worthy of governing the kingdom. They 
represented, on the other hand, his rival Don Pedro as a 
freemason ; as one who would subvert the religion of 
the country, and who, if he got possession of the crown, 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 209 

would call down, by his impiety, the curse of God and 
his saints upon their devoted heads. 

A most curious and laughable circumstance happened 
in the course of this contest at one of the Madonna 
churches in Lisbon. There was worshipped in one of 
these churches an image of the Virgin, which was held 
in the greatest repute by the inhabitants, in consequence 
of the numerous miracles said to be performed by it in 
former times. The priests thought, that making this 
image speak in favour of their patron, Don Miguel, 
would be an irrefutable argument with the people for his 
pretensions. With this intention a novena was ordered 
in honour of the image, and the church splendidly deco- 
rated for its celebration. The people assembled in 
crowds from all parts of the city to pay their devoirs to 
the Virgin, and to hear the panegyric preached in her 
honour. The preacher, after enumerating the many be- 
nefits, temporal and spiritual, which the people derived 
from their devotion to the queen of heaven, and after 
relating the many miracles performed by the image then 
and there worshipped ; turning toward the image itself, 
and casting himself on his knees before it, (in which 
idolatrous act he was imitated by his audience,) he 
addressed to it a fervent prayer, for the good of the 
church, and implored it to manifest by a miracle, whethei 
she was well pleased that Don Miguel should reign 
over the kingdom of Portugal. The image, mirabile 
dictu ! at the conclusion of this fervid appeal, bowed its 
head in sign of assent three times in succession, before 
the eyes of the assembled multitude, all of which, with. 
one voice, simultaneously cried out, "A miracle ! a mi- 
racle! long live Miguel I. the chosen of the Virgin, 
and the beloved of Heaven." This miracle was repeat 
ed frequently on the following days of the festival, and 
in presence of a still greater concourse, attracted by its 
fame, which spread in an incredibly short time, not only 
through Lisbon, but through the greater part of Portugal 
It was even repeated by the Miguelite officers to their 
soldiers at the head of the ranks, and had, as it was in- 
tended, the effect of exciting their zeal in the cause of 

19* 



210 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the petty tyrant — as Miguel proved himself to be for the 
comparatively short time that he was in possession of the 
usurped throne. 

The last day but one, however, of its acting was des- 
tined to open the eyes of the people, and to give them an 
idea of what priestcraft is capable, in order to arrive at 
its ends. At the close of the sermon, and when the 
preacher turned, as usual, to apostrophise the image, 
and to implore it to signify its pleasure and assent to 
Miguel's government by moving the head, as it had done 
the seven preceding days, since the commencement of the 
novena, the image retained its inanimate position, to the 
great disappointment of the people, whose expectations 
were so highly wound up, and to the consternation of 
the priests who were privy to the cheat. The request 
was repeated with some additional flowers of rhetoric 
from the preacher and the most stunning vociferations 
from the people ; but all in vain ; the image neither moved 
its head, nor changed its position. At length, on the 
preacher's repeating the request the third time, and hint- 
ing that the Virgin was angry on account of the presence 
of some freemasons, who mingled through curiosity 
among the crowd of worshippers, a voice was heard issu- 
ing from the inside of the image and complainingly cry- 
ing out, " It is not my fault that the Virgin does not move 
her head, for I have pulled the cord till it broke, and what 
can I do more ?" The voice was distinctly heard by 
every one ; but the speaker was invisible. At last, one 
of those present more courageous than the rest, attempted 
to approach the image, but was repulsed repeatedly by 
the priests, who well knew the consequence of the dis- 
covery ; but being seconded by some others equally 
desirous of unravelling the mystery, he at length suc- 
ceeded in coming close to it, and on removing the folds 
of the garments, with which such like images are decked 
out, he found an opening in the side, large enough for 
the admittance of a grown boy, whom he pulled out from 
the viscera of the Virgin, and who was immediately re- 
cognised as the nephew of the bishop, placed there by 
his uncle ; for what purpose, it does not require an 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 211 

extraordinary degree of acuteness to guess. The whole 
secret was now explained ; the people met the discovery 
with the ridicule it so well merited, and little was want- 
ing that they did not massacre on the spot the impostors 
who got up the cheat. These thought it their best plan 
to consult for their own safety by flight, which they im- 
mediately made good through the doors of the sacristy, 
amid the hisses and curses of the infuriated populace. 
Miguel's cause lost many a good and powerful advocate 
by the failure of this imposture, and he was obliged to 
again have recourse to his usual remedies — the sword 
and dagger — to keep the inhabitants in any degree of 
subjection to his authority. The poor Madonna, or rather 
her image, was now disgraced for ever, and removed in 
a short time from the church altogether. Indeed, it seems 
surprising that the enraged populace did not tear it 
asunder, as the vile instrument of a wily priesthood for 
propagating their monstrous doctrines and extending the 
reign of darkness. It may, very probably, make its ap- 
pearance again on the theatre of priestcraft, in the cha- 
racter of some miracle-working Madonna sent down from 
heaven, if not used for fire-wood before a favourable 
opportunity presents of bringing it forward for that pur- 
pose ; or it may be baptized with the name of some minor 
saintess, into which a new coat of paint could easily 
transform it ; or, in fine, it may be sold by the sacristan 
to some farmer, to be used by him for a Priapus to 
frighten the birds from his newly sown corn-fields. It is 
reasonable to suppose, that ninety-nine out of a hundred 
— yes, and the hundredth too — of popish miracles, if 
examined as the foregoing has been, would be found 
nothing else than the machinations of the priests en- 
deavouring to establish some favourite doctrine, or to 
fyring about something which may be profitable to them- 
selves as individuals, or to the whole church in general 
which they swear to support, per fas et nefas — to carry 
through thick and thin, 

I have been thus diffuse on the subject of images and 
image-worship, because it is a doctrine fondly adhered to 
by the church of Rome, and cherished as one of its most 



212 SIX YEARS IN THE 

essential and vital dogmas. The scriptural dogn.-** :i<?ld 
in common by all who take the revealed word as guide 
of their faith, is but of secondary consideration in the 
Romish church ; some of them, as justification by faith, 
being exploded altogether, while those that are retained 
are so covered over with the filth of human inventions, 
that they may be said to be exploded too — at least prac- 
tically. Of the latter class are the atonement of Christ, 
the influence of the Divine Spirit, the administration of 
the sacraments, and many other essential doctrines of 
which it is needless to make explicit mention in this 
place ; all hidden under a monstrous mass of unscriptural 
leaven, which renders them of little or no avail to the 
salvation of man. For these are substituted prayers to, 
and adoration of, saints ; purgatory, adoration of relics, 
&c. I shall now proceed to examine another species of 
soul-killing idolatry — that of relics. It flows sua. sponte 
from the invocation of saints and image-worship, and 
like these, is universally practised by the benighted fol- 
lowers of popery, and preached by its wily and error- 
propagating ministers. It will be seen by the following 
account of this superstition, that it is carried to as great 
excess as image-worship itself, whose daughter it is, and 
that like it, it is the source of no small emolument to the 
priests, who let no opportunities slip of inculcating it as 
a most holy and ivholesome doctrine. Whether it be so 
or not, I shall let the reader decide. It is enough for me 
to give an account of how it is actually practised. 



I 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 213 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Relics — Practice of the primitive church — Relic-worship established 
by the pope — Manner of procuring saint-bodies — The three heads 
of John the Baptist — The offal of the charnel-houses made the 
object of a Christian's adoration — St. Crispin of Viterbo — St. 
Spiridione — Contest between the Greeks and Latins, for the pos- 
session of his body — Relic-worship at Malta — Maltese quack-doctor 
— Relics preserved in the church of St. John at Malta — Attempt 
to steal a relic — Anecdotes of the plague at Malta — Translation of 
a saint's body from the catacombs at Rome to Malta — Stupendous 
miracle performed by touching the foregoing body — Reflections — 
Milk of the Virgin Mary — Shrine of Thomas a Becket at Canter- 
bury — Henry VIII., and his myrmidons — Relation of the manner 
in which the Virgin's milk found its way to the monastery of St. 
Mary's, near Falmouth — Concluding remarks on relic-worship. 

Papists understand by reliquias, or relics, the remains 
of the bodies or clothes, or of any other thing belonging, 
or supposed to have belonged, to the saints and martyrs, 
worshipped as gods in their church. The instruments 
by which martyrs were put to death, the blood collected 
on that occasion, and even the very water in which their 
bodies were washed, are also numbered among the most 
esteemed relics ; and happy is he who can get posses- 
sion — it matters little how — of any of these holy things. 
These things are carried about in procession ; preserved 
in gold and silver cases, kissed, bowed down to, and 
adored in many other idolatrous ways. The respect paid 
to the martyrs, and to the first teachers of the Christian 
faith, by the Christians of the first ages of the church, 
who were accustomed to assemble at their tombs, for the 
purpose of honouring their memories and for prayer, 
seems to have given rise to this superstition, and to have 
degenerated in subsequent ages into the detestable sys- 
tem of relic-worship, which is now practised in the 
church of Rome. The primitive Christians, doubtless, 
had no other intention for assembling at the cemeteries 
of the martyrs, (where, by the way, many who were 



214 SIX YEARS IN THE 

not martyrs, nor even pious Christians, were also buried,) 
than for the purpose of prayer and religious exercise, 
especially as such places were generally more retired, 
and as they could there enjoy communion with God, 
without being interrupted by their pagan persecutors. 
They had not even thought upon extending their venera- 
tion for the virtues of their departed brethren, farther 
than a simple regard for their memories, without expect- 
ing or desiring that any benefits, either temporal or 
spiritual, might follow to themselves from this pious 
commemoration of them. Their hopes of obtaining bless- 
ings were grounded upon a surer foundation — on the pro- 
mises of Christ himself, who directed them to ask " the 
Father in his name" — and in no other name. They 
were well aware, then, that the prayers and intercession 
of their departed friends would avail them but little ; and 
accordingly honoured their memories, by imitating their 
lives, and not in worshipping their bones. Little did 
they imagine, however, that their posterity would as- 
sume these simple usages as arguments in favour of 
idolatry — for, let papists say what they may, image- 
worship and relic-worship virtually amounts to, and, in 
fact, can be called by no other name — that, what was in- 
tended for a simple mark of respect for the memories of 
those, by whose perseverance and labours the glad tid- 
ings of salvation reached themselves, should be made a 
precedent for partly destroying the effects to be expected 
from the more general knowledge of the gospel, and for 
dishonouring God, by robbing him of his glory, and be- 
stowing it upon his creatures. Had they foreseen, that 
such conclusions would or could be drawn from their 
actions, it is very probable, nay, it is certain, that they 
would sooner have assembled for prayer in the idol- 
temples, and among pagans themselves, rather than 
afford an opportunity to posterity of misinterpreting their 
intention, by assembling at the cemeteries of martyrs. 

After the establishment of image- worship and the 
invocation of saints in the church, it was vevy easy to 
make the addition of another species at idoMry, near 
akin to the former — I mean tha» ot /fch^-wo*shii I*. 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 215 

was not deemed sufficient, by the governors of the church, 
to worship the images of the saints, and to invoke their 
intercession, attributing to them the power of curing all 
diseases, of working miracles, and of obtaining eternal 
life for their worshippers, by pleading their own merits 
at the foot of the Almighty's throne : No, this was not 
sufficient to satisfy the thirst for gain, . for which the 
popish clergy, secular and regular, were, and still are, 
remarkable in every place which has been, or is, cursed 
by their presence. They hit upon an expedient by which 
a new trade was opened for them, — a new market for 
the sale of their impositions. This was no other than 
exciting a veneration for the relics of those to whom they 
themselves assigned a place in heaven — for many, it may 
be supposed, prayed to and honoured as saints, were not 
worthy of a place even in their own purgatory. As soon 
as this new article of Christianity began to be preached, 
the relic mania began. Jaw-bones, fingers, thumbs, 
teeth, parings of the nails, the beard, and even the ob- 
scene parts of the bodies (e. g. the holy prepuce of 
Christ, which is actually worshipped at Rome) of those 
who were before honoured as saints, began to be sought 
after with great diligence. Happy was he, who could 
possess any part of such invaluable things ; for then he 
held himself secure from all assaults and devices of the 
devil, from pestilence and contagion ; from every thing, 
in fine, which could endanger his temporal or spiritual 
interests. The priests, seeing how well their bait took, 
instituted prayers and fastings for imploring the direction 
of Heaven in finding the body of some martyr or other 
saint. The body was always found in some secret 
place, where it had before been conveyed by the priests, 
who then blasphemously gave out, that the prayers and 
fastings of the faithful had prevailed upon God to mani- 
fest the body of his saint, to increase their devotion, and 
afford a help for salvation to his people. The stinking 
carcass being conveyed processionally to the church, to 
to be there deposited under the altar, or in some other 
sacred place ; the earth, in which it was buried, acquired 
also a degree of sanctity by being honoured with its 



216 SIX TEARS IN THE 

touch, and was accordingly either carried away by the 
priests, and afterward sold at its weight of gold to their 
deluded followers, or else violently taken or stolen — for 
it became by right the priest's property — by the mob 
assembled on the occasion. Many, when the catacombs 
of Rome and other charnel-houses were exhausted, un- 
dertook long and hazardous journeys to the eastern pro- 
vinces of the Roman empire, in order to procure these 
safeguards against the evils of the world. The coun- 
tries formerly honoured by the presence of Christ and 
his apostles were more especially the places where they 
hoped to be enriched by this new kind of treasure. The 
wily, artful Greeks, becoming aware of the delusions of 
the Latins, soon found them relics enough, and thereby 
enriched themselves by selling, as the bones and remains 
of Christian saints, the offals of their charnel-houses. 
Every thing like a bone, or any thing that could possibly 
appertain to the human body, was sold at extraordinary 
prices. Many bones, said to belong to the bodies of 
departed saints, were in reality the bones of pagans, and 
a great number were not even human. These, however, 
purchased at a great price, were borne in triumph to the 
western churches by their happy purchasers, and either 
retailed with profit to those who were rich enough and 
foolish enough to buy them ; or bestowed, through devo- 
tion, on some church which was not as yet in possession 
of such treasures : in either case, they were always held 
up as an object of devotion to the deluded people. In this 
way the Latin churches came to the possession of the 
relics of St. Mark, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. 
Cyprian, which they show to this day with so much 
ostentation. Some, who were too poor to purchase re- 
lics, but were yet unwilling to be without such inestima- 
ble remedies against all evils, did not scruple to break 
into the churches by night, (for every thing is lawful, if 
successful, in a cause of this nature,) or into the houses 
of those in possession of relics, and rob them of the 
coveted treasures. The priests, in the mean time, did 
not neglect to turn to their own advantage this infatuation 
of the people. They saw the success of their relic 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 217 

stratagem, and did not let the opportunity slip of enrich- 
ing themselves. They were made the sole masters of 
the relics, and they caused a decree to be issued, that no 
relic should be worshipped, or believed genuine, before it 
had passed through their hands, and had been stamped 
with their infallible authority. A shop for the sale of 
relics was established at Rome, by authority of the pope, 
which is open to this day; the pope having discovered 
relics to be a profitable commerce, and falling little short 
of indulgences themselves. In this shop were manufac- 
tured, or, at least, baptized relics, to be afterward sent 
to order, to all parts of the Christian world. From this 
shop were sent forth the three heads of John the Baptist, 
which have divine honours paid to them in three of the 
principal Italian cities : — Florence, Capua, and Reggio ; 
each armed with the pontifical seal, and with a written 
paper, confirmatory of its genuineness.* 

Since relics and relic-worship became so much in 
vogue, and was found so profitable a cheat, it was thought 
expedient to issue a decree, dated from the city of bulls, 
and signed by the arch-cheat himself, by which it was 

* I have had the honour myself of kissing two of these heads ; the 
one adored at Capua, and the one at Florence. I have been assured, 
by a Calabrian priest, that these two are spurious ; and that the 
genuine one is adored (si adora, were his words) in his native city, 
Reggio. This he informed me under a strict injunction to secrecy. 
Would it be impious to judge of the genuineness of all three 1 It 
would, the papist answers, because the pope has confirmed their 
genuineness with his infallible authority ! What ! of all three 1 Yes, 
of all three ; for who can limit the power of the vicar of Christ 1 
Such, in reality, was the question I once started to a brother monk — 
and one that was no fool, either — and such was the answer I received ! 
I remember an anecdote of a French abbe, of rather liberal principles, 
to whom were shown, while travelling in Italy, the three heads of the 
precursor of the Lord, On seeing, at Reggio, the last head of the 
three, for he had already seen the other two at Florence and Capua, 
he laughingly remarked to the priest, who held it up to be kissed, 
that " his saintship, John Baptist, was really a philanthropical saint, 
for he converted his own head into three, in order to benefit, by its 
presence, the three different cities that were beatified by the possession 
of it." So much for French levity — but many Frenchmen are infi- 
dels. No wonder, when such monstrosities are proposed to their 
belief. 

20 



218 SIX YEARS IN THE 

ordained, that after one month from the date of it, in Italy, 
and after three months, in those countries situated on the 
other side - of the Alps,* no church should be consecrated 
for divine service, unless it possessed a holy carcass to be 
deposited under the great altar ; and that churches already 
consecrated, and not having the requisite relic, should, 
within the same space, be provided with it, under pain 
of having their rites interdicted, and their clergy, or 
ministers, ipso facto, excommunicated. In the same bull, 
the faithful are admonished to provide themselves with 
the relics of the saints, which they may wear as amulets 
about their persons, or keep in their houses, as protection 
against the efforts of the devil, and against the accidents 
and misfortunes which, more or less, attend every man 
during his pilgrimage through this world. This bull was 
manifestly designed to compel the faithful to purchase the 
bodies taken from the catacombs, and other cemeteries in 
Rome, and dubbed by the pope's infallible authority, the 
bodies of martyrs and other saints ; and which were 
lying on hand in the pope's relic-shop, at Rome. 

It is but fair to add, that this custom of shutting up 
putrefied carcasses in the altars, and other parts of the 
Christian churches, can boast of a more ancient origin ; for 
we find it ordained by a council held in Constantinople 
in the middle of the fourth century, that those altars should 
be demolished under which there were found no relics ; 
and St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, refused to consecrate 
a church because it had no relics. This custom, how- 
ever, soon died away, both because no virtue was ever 
attached to the relics themselves, even by the Christians 
of the fourth century, at which time the church began to 
fall off from gospel purity, and because the zealous, scrip- 
tural Christians saw that it would be affording a bad 
precedent to future ages, and would induce the simple to 
attribute to bones and other species of relics, a virtue 
which they did not, and, indeed, could not possess. It 

* I don't remember the year in which this bull was promulgated, 
and not having by me a bullary, or book of bulls, I have not an op- 
portunity of correcting the fault of my memory. I believe, however, 
that it was in some part of the tenth century ; but am not certain. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 219 

was, therefore, suffered to fall into disuse ; nor was it 
again revived, till the establishment of image-worship, in 
the ninth century, brought it forward, as has been already- 
related. The pope and his priests soon found the good 
effects to their pockets proceeding from the promulgation 
of the relic-establishing bull, for the deluded people were 
compelled to buy up the carcasses at the owners' prices, 
or else have their churches shut up, or remaining uncon- 
secrated, and their ministers excommunicated. The pope 
soon disposed of his stock of relics, and emptied the 
charnel-houses of their dirt ; and all this with the great- 
est advantage to himself and his priests, without mention- 
ing how much it conduced to the purity of the air, thus 
freed from the pestilent exhalations of rotten bones. It 
must be admitted, however, that the greater number of 
the people swallowed the bait held out to them almost as 
willingly as their rulers extended it ; but this is no argu- 
ment in favour of its lawfulness, as this willingness to be 
duped on the part of the people, is but the effect of the 
endeavours and preaching of the ministers of relic-wor- 
ship ; it always remaining to be accounted for, by what 
authority, or under what lawful pretext, the offal of the 
charnel-house should be attempted to be made the object 
of a Christian's worship and devotion. Some of the 
learned men of the day, and no small number of the 
clergy, cried out loudly against the abuse, but these, being 
few in number, compared to the opposite party — the 
advocates for relics — were obliged in a short time to be 
silent, and bear with patience an evil they could not pre- 
vent : or if they persisted in opposing the progress of it, 
they incurred personal risk, and came under the surveil- 
lance of the papal court, which had the power of soon 
stopping their mouths with a vengeance. 

The greater number of saint-bodies to be found under 
the altars of the different churches of Italy, and other 
popish countries, were taken from the catacombs at Rome. 
These were the common receptacles for the dead for 
many ages : it may then be supposed, that all who died 
during the earlier ages of the church, till the reign of 
Constantine, were not all Christians, and, consequently. 



220 SIX YEARS IN THE 

no saints. But all being buried indiscriminately, accord- 
ing to the best authority, in this common burial-place, 
how then can relic-worshippers distinguish between the 
bodies of Christian martyrs and those of pagan male- 
factors. The difficulty is got over in the following manner. 
If the people's relic-store should be exhausted by a great 
demand for holy carcasses, it is again replenished from 
the catacombs. His holiness appoints a day for a pro- 
cession to these caverns, when, accompanied by all the 
secular and regular clergy of the holy city, he intends to 
make the selection of such bodies as may be wanted to 
supply the demands made by the faithful. The difficulty 
of distinguishing between pagan and Christian bones 
seems to be well known and acknowledged, for the 
" Veni Creator Spiritus,*' or the invocation of the Holy 
Ghost, is chanted by the assembled clergy, and a Latin 
prayer, — the Latin church never addresses the Deity in 
any other language, — is read, by which the Divine assist- 
ance, and directions from on high, is sought for the per- 
formance of this (to them) solemn duty. The pope then 
casts his eyes around the confused mass of mouldering 
skeletons, and, as the whim may take him, calls this the 
body of Saint Such-a-one, another, the body of " Virgin 
Some-other-one" — and so on, till he is warned by his 
attendants that enough are now baptized, (battezati, is the 
name Romanists give to the bodies of the saints chosen 
in this manner,) to serve for the present occasion. The 
rotten bones are then carefully collected, and, having been 
sprinkled with holy water, are placed in a chest prepared 
for that purpose, and carried in procession to the Vatican, 
where there is a room purposely set apart for the prepa- 
ration and sale of relics — the same th,at has been before 
called a " relic-shop." They are then handed over to 
some one whose duty it is to arrange the bones anatomi- 
cally, supplying those that are wanting with purified wax, 
and covering over what remains of the countenance, with 
a waxen mask made to life, so that it approaches very 
near the natural countenance, and would lead one to 
imagine that it is really the incorruptible flesh of the 
sanctified mummy. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 221 

The skilfulness to which they have reached of making 
putrid bones assume the appearance of a human body, 
whence the soul is just departed, has given rise to the 
many lying fables related, concerning the incorruptibility 
of the bodies of favourite saints, so fondly believed by 
some sensible members of the popish communion. 1 
have been more than once deceived myself, while looking 
at made-up bodies of this kind, and firmly believed that 
the sanctity of the men whose bodies they were reported 
to be had kept their flesh from the fate attending the 
bodies of all men without exception — pulverization and 
corruption : indeed it requires to touch the bodies them- 
selves, from which visiters are restrained by the cases — ■ 
some of silver, with a small opening of glass — others 
entirely of glass — to be able to detect the imposition. 

There is worshipped in the church of the Immacu- 
late Conception at Rome, a body of this kind, which is 
enough to deceive the most acute, so well has it been got 
up, and made to imitate nature. It is called the body of 
the " blessed Crispin, of Viterbo," a Capuchin lay- 
brother, whom monkish impudence chose to have enrolled 
in the number of the gods. He has been dead more 
than 150 years ; yet his body, placed in a shrine built at 
an enormous expense for his worship, appears as if de- 
prived of life but yesterday. On first seeing it, the 
monk who showed it assured me that it was the real in- 
corruptible body of the saint whose name it bears, and 
that it would be a heresy to doubt its genuineness. The 
sight of the body itself obliged me to give credit to his 
false assertion, not indeed false, as far as he was con- 
cerned, because he only asserted what he conscientiously 
thought the truth : — the eyes, the mouth, the colour — 
even the beard, all and every thing so much resembling 
flesh and blood. So perfect is this imitation, and so 
forcibly is the imposition eulogized by the panegyrists 
of St. Crispin, that his shrine is daily surrounded by the 
devotees of Rome, each of whom brings his gift, either 
in money or in wax candles, in order to propitiate the 
intercession of his waxen saintship. A box is appended 
at the foot of the altar, with a hole in the middle, large 

20* 



222 SIX YEARS IT* THE 

enough to admit a dollar ; and from this box is supplied 
many a delicacy to the gormandizing monks. Festivals 
and triduos are held in honour of this mummy, by which 
the gains of the mummy-owners — the monks — are very 
much increased. It is needless to mention, that this 
body, so firmly believed by the people to be incorrupt, 
and also believed to be so by the greater part of the 
monks themselves, is nothing more than a few moulder- 
ing bones kept together by wax, and transformed by the 
same into a resemblance of the human frame. Alas ! 
popery, how deceitful thou art ! 

At Corfu, one of the Ionian islands, there is also 
another lot of sanctified bones, christened " the body of 
St. Spiridione," which are worshipped most idolatrously 
by the Greeks as well as the Latins of this island. The 
body, made up in the manner before described, is depo- 
sited in a massive chest of solid silver, which requires, 
on account of its great weight, the strength of four men 
to support it, when carried in procession, as it frequently 
is, through the streets of Corfu. Its shrine is in the 
Greek church, called after the saint, with whose putrid 
bones it is honoured, "Spiridione." This body has 
been the apple of contention between the followers of the 
eastern and western churches of this island for many 
years. Very few knew who or what Spiridione was, 
yet all affirm that he was a great saint. It is equally 
unknown how his body found its way to the island, or 
what wind drove it there ; for all confess that he was not 
a Corfuote. This mystery, in which the knowledge, or 
rather no knowledge of his country, and the acquisition 
of his body is involved, far from lessening, has, on the 
contrary, tended to increase the people's devotion for 
him. The Latins, taking advantage of the obscurity in 
which his history is involved, affirm that he was a bishop 
of their own church, and a most zealous adherent of the 
pope's : they paint him, accordingly, with a mitre and 
crosier, and, under such a form, his picture is adored by 
them. The Greeks, on the other hand, assert that he 
was the friend and companion of Photius, patriarch of 
Jerusalem, who, in the middle of the ninth century, 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 223 

caused the Greek church to separate from the Latin, on 
account of the errors of the latter ; and that he was 
waylaid and murdered by emissaries from the pope, by 
whom he had the honour of being excommunicated. 
He is, therefore, placed by the Greeks in the number of 
their martyrs, and painted by them with blood issuing 
from a wound in his breast, which he is in the act of 
receiving from two grim-looking villains, dressed in the 
habit of Latin monks. The Latins, when Corfu was 
under Venetian domination, having the force on their 
side, took the liberty of transporting Spiridione — case and 
all, which very probably the priests coveted more than 
the bones, as being of greater value — from the Greek 
church into their own cathedral, pleading in excuse for 
this act of violence, the sin of permitting a Roman 
Catholic saint to be worshipped in a schismatic church. 
This excited a rebellion on the part of the Greeks 
against the tyranny of the Venetians, which was not 
suppressed without the loss of many lives — sacrificed, 
no doubt, to appease the bones of the contested saint. 
Some thirty years after, a new governor being sent from 
Venice, he thought it would be a good way to gain po- 
pularity, and propitiate the affections of the Greeks, or 
perhaps — which is more likely — being bribed thereto by 
a good sum of money, (the Venetian governors of the 
Ionian islands were proverbially venal,) to use his influ- 
ence with the doge and senate to have Spiridione restored 
to his former owners. With much difficulty, and after 
surmounting the obstacles placed in the way by the Latin 
side, he at length succeeded, and Spiridione changed 
masters again, or rather returned to his former ones, and 
was triumphantly replaced in his former shrine, poorer, 
however, by some sixty pounds of silver, which the 
Latins thought fit to subtract from the weight of his 
coffin, to make it more portable to be sure, and in com- 
passion to the miserable porters. The Greeks complain- 
ed loudly of this robbery, but what could they do ? A 
place for appeal was nowhere, for the very judges had 
share of the plunder ! They were therefore obliged to 
bear up with the loss, and console themselves with the 



224 



SIX YEARS IN THE 



possession of their saint, and with the remainder of his 
riches ; some of the Latins remarking that sixty pounds 
of the precious metal was the least he could give the 
Latin church in payment for his entertainment and lodg- 
ing there for more than thirty years. Spiridione remains 
in possession of the Greeks down to the present time, 
nor is there any likelihood of their again losing him, till 
guided by the Spirit of truth, and by His precious word, 
they throw aside, of their own accord, his degrading 
worship, and convert his silver case into something of 
real service to their island, leaving his body to return to 
the dust from which it was created, if, indeed the bones 
that are shown as his, ever formed the part of a human 
body — a thing in itself a matter of doubt. The worship 
of Spiridione, as now practised at Corfu, is idolatrous in 
the extreme. Perhaps Vincenzo Ferreri is not more 
idolatrously worshipped at Valencia, nor St. Peter at 
Rome, than he is in that island ; for certainly the super- 
stitious and idolatrous rites practised at his shrine can 
hardly be surpassed. It is remarkable, and at the same 
time surprising, how England allows her policy to get 
the better of her religion. The British soldiers quarter- 
ed in this island have positive orders from their general 
to present arms to the bones and images of this saint, as 
they are carried along in procession through the streets ; 
the bones by the Greeks, and images and pictures by the 
Latins. Nor is this all : a guard of honour, commanded 
by a commissioned officer, is always in attendance on 
every solemn occasion, and drawn up in front of the 
church to do honour to the relics of this idol : thus is a 
British soldier obliged to sacrifice his duty to God to his 
duty as a soldier. This may be good policy, but very 
bad religion, and serves to confirm the other continental 
nations in their ideas of English religion ; for it is no 
uncommon thing for an Italian, when he wishes to express 
his opinion of the want of religion in one of his ac- 
quaintances, to exclaim, " Quello ha di religione quanto 
un Inglese :" — He has as much religion as an English- 
man ; meaning to say he has none at all. 

Malta, another, and, indeed, the chief British colony 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 225 

in the Mediterranean, is also remarkable in the annals of 
superstition for its servile adherence to the doctrines of 
popery, which are there practised upon in full vigour, 
and under the most disgusting forms. This island is 
supposed to have been converted to the Christian faith by 
St. Paul, who was shipwrecked on a part of it, known 
at this day by the name of " Porto di San Paulo." 
Whether this be true or not, that is, whether the Melita 
on which St. Paul was cast ashore after the shipwreck, as 
related in the Acts, corresponds with the modern Malta, — 
and some doubt it, and give their reasons for doubting it 
from the description of Paul himself, as given in the Acts 
— it is certain that St. Paul never taught the Maltese the 
farrago of superstition which later ages have substituted 
in their island for pure Christianity. Indeed, were he to 
be cast ashore again on this island in the present century, 
as he is reported to have been in the first ; he could, with 
as much justice, style the inhabitants "barbarians" (the 
name by which he has designated them in his account 
of the shipwreck) at this very time, and in the modern 
signification of the word too, as he had before done in its 
relative sense — because they were not Romans, nor Ro- 
man colonists. Popery has done her work in this island, 
as is manifest in the ignorance of the inhabitants, not one 
out of a hundred of whom can read, and has succeeded to 
her heart's content in brutalizing a people naturally of a 
ready wit, and superior capacity for the arts and sciences. 
Instead, however, of this island's producing artists and 
scholars, which it certainly would, were it not cursed by 
the degrading yoke of popery, it now produces nothing 
else than pick-pockets and cut-throats, quacks and priests, 
who, unable to find a subsistence in their own island, 
scatter themselves through the Levant, and bear with them 
the vices, which they learned at home under the fostering 
care of priestcraft. The Turks and other inhabitants of 
the Levant are so convinced of the evil disposition of the 
ill-taught Maltese, that they call all roguish foreigners by 
that name ; for Maltese in their language is as much as 
to say, perfidious, roguish, and bloodthirsty. On this 
account every gentlemanly Maltese is obliged to deny his 



226 SIX YEARS IN THE 

country, when he travels in the Levant ; or else he is 
liable to be suspected of having the same virtuous dispo- 
sitions, for which his countrymen have rendered them- 
selves so famous, or rather infamous.* If St. Paul were 
to land on their island now-a-days, he would find greater 
difficulty in turning them away from the infamous lives 
which they lead through the demoralizing influence of 
popery, and of converting them from their christianized 
idolatry, than he formerly had in converting them from 
paganism to Christianity. — But to return from this 
digression. 

Relic-worship is carried on in this island to a monstrous 
excess. The knights of St. John of Jerusalem, after their 
expulsion from Rhodes, transferred the head-quarters 
of their half-religious, half-military order to this barren 

* A Maltese quack-doctor of the name of Caruana was confined 
in the consular prison at Damascus for nearly three months, until the 
consul could receive advice from the government of Malta of the 
manner in which he ought to be punished for his crimes. Having 
obtained by an affected knowledge of physic, a footing in some Turkish 
villages, four or five days' journey distant from Damascus, and the plague 
having broke out there during that time, he, in order to increase his 
gains, was discovered throwing by night the infected clothes of those 
that died into the houses of the other inhabitants. The ruffian, not con- 
tent with the number he killed by his ignorance of medicine, in which 
he pretended to be skilled, felt no scruple in infecting the other inha- 
bitants ; because he expected to be called to their assistance, and fill 
his pockets accordingly. He was caught in the act, and little was 
wanted that he was not torn asunder by the enraged Turks. There 
were found about his person, when taken, various valuables pilfered 
from houses of the rich inhabitants, by whom he was consulted as a 
physician, and most of them died under his hands. The Turkish 
government, not having the power of punishing him, as living under 
British protection, had him escorted to the British consulate, and 
loudly cried out for his instant execution ; for had he been a Turk, 
he would not be allowed to live two hours after his conviction. This 
same fellow was nephew to the present bishop of Malta. This may 
serve as an example of Maltese roguery, and is only one out of many 
equally criminal, which I could give. But their religion and the 
manner they are taught by their ^oul-killing priests are in fault, not 
themselves. The same fellow would find absolution for the minders 
he had committed from monseigneur his uncle, upon his return to 
Malta. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 227 

rock, and, with it, brought also all the most revolting 
superstitions of popery. Relic-worship was not the least 
of these ; for all the churches built by them, after having 
been confirmed in the possession of the island, are well 
supplied with a plenteous stock of such trumpery. The 
body of St. — , (I don't remember his name, but it is of 
little importance,) who is said to have been consecrated 
bishop of the island by St. Paul, is here worshipped by 
the stupid Maltese with the same ardour, and the same 
unseemly rites, that Spiridione is worshipped at Corfu. 

The principal church of Valletta, the capital of the 
island, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It may be 
supposed, that a people so fond of idolatry, and more 
especially of that branch of it called "relic-worship," 
would not want for some relic belonging to this their 
favourite saint : the supposition is perfectly just, for they 
glory in the possession of no less than three. They osten- 
tatiously show the identical sword with which John was 
beheaded by order of Herod ; three of his teeth extracted 
by the executioner after performing his office ; and a part 
of the camel skin (to me it appeared a piece of the un- 
tanned skin of a Maltese ass, a very fine race of which 
are bred on the island) with which he was clothed. 
These relics were purchased at an extraordinary price 
from the pope's relic-shop at Rome by the knights, who 
spared no expense in providing whatever might be deemed 
necessary for exciting the public devotion, on which, 
more than on the force of their arms, they relied for the 
favour of the public. 

A dish, said to be the one in which the head of John 
was presented to Herodias, is preserved as a relic in 
Teramo, a town in the kingdom of Naples. The legend 
attached to this relic relates that an immense sum of 
money was offered for it by the knights of St. John of 
Jerusalem in order to transfer it to their church at Malta ; 
but the people and clergy of the former city refused to 
deliver up for love or money so valuable a treasure ; " for 
they well knew," sensibly continues the legendist, " that 
the safety and protection of their city depended upon the 
safe keeping of it." The knights, finding that they could 



228 SIX YEARS IN THE 

not have it for money, sent four chosen men from Malta, 
who were instructed to break into the church by night 
and carry off the treasure ; being promised, if they suc- 
ceeded, a great reward. They were taken in the act of 
breaking open the iron box, in which, for greater security, 
it was kept, and being carried before the magistrates, they 
confessed the whole plot, and threw all the blame upon 
the devotion that the knights of Malta had to any thing 
belonging to their holy patron. This story, if true, may 
be a guide for judging of the estimation in which the three 
relics they already possessed were held by the knights of 
St. John, and of the immense sum they most have given 
the pope for them, whereas they offered so much money, 
and went to so much trouble, to obtain one of less conse- 
quence, as the holy charger certainly is, when compared 
with the three teeth of St. John, not to mention the sword 
and a piece of his holy camel skin. 

A great many miracles, noted down as they occurred 
in a book kept for that purpose, are attributed to these 
fictitious relics, which are supposed by the superstitious 
Maltese to be the island's safeguard against pestilence 
and famine, to each of which it is very much exposed ; 
to the latter* on account of its dense population and its 
natural sterility, by which it is rendered incapable of 
supplying the inhabitants with corn sufficient for the 
consumption of two months out of twelve ; to the former, 
by reason of its great commerce with Turkey and Bar- 
bary — places never free from the plague. More reliance 
indeed is placed on these worthless relics, than on the 
protection of God, and on the strict quarantine regula- 
tions. By these, vessels coming to Malta from suspected 
countries are subject to long quarantines ; some of forty, 
some of fifty, and some of sixty days ; while others in 
a harbour called Marsamucetto, set apart entirely for 
this purpose, are reprovisioned and sent back again to 
sea, without being allowed to land at all. The prudence 
and foresight of the English governor preserve the island 
from the other evil — famine ; for it is his duty to provide 
a supply of corn sufficient for two years, in case of a 
blockade. This corn is preserved in pits or fosses made 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 229 

for that purpose under ground in some of the principal 
streets of the cities, and in the garrisons. When these 
precautions keep the island free from the dreaded evils, 
the Maltese do not attribute their preservation to the 
measures taken to ensure it, but rather to the protection 
of St. John and his relics ; or of some other saint. 

I have been informed by one of the first English resi- 
dents on the island, who came to it soon after it was 
evacuated by the French — his name was McKenzie, a 
Scotchman, since dead — that, during the pestilence which 

^ raged there with great fury in 1817, and carried off a 
great number of the inhabitants, these relics and the de- 
pendence placed in them by the superstitious populace, 
was the cause of death to many who would otherwise 
have escaped from its destroying influence. The reason 
he assigned for this opinion was, " because the pruden- 
tial care of not coming in contact with one another — the 
disease was transmitted by the touch — was entirely ne- 
glected by the people, who assembled in crowds to pray 
before and touch the relics, which were exposed for pub- 
lic worship in the church of St. John. Some who were 
already infected with the raging malady believed that 
they would be cured by touching them ; while others, 
still in health, believed that the touch of such holy mi- 
raculous things would preserve them from all infection. 
The crowd assembled on these occasions was immense, 
and filled %ie church quite full, by which the infected and 
the healthy were all jumbled together; and therefore 
obliged to come in contact with the clothes and' persons 
of each other." He further added, "that the touch of 
the relics themselves was attended with infection and 
afterward death ; for very few who were once infected 
ever recovered. The relics, being touched by the infect- 
ed, conveyed the fatal malady to those in health who 
touched them afterward, under the belief that they had 

, the power of protecting them from that evil, which per- 
haps they would have escaped had it not been for their 
own superstitious confidence." The church was at 
length shut up by order of government till the cessation 
of the pestilence, it being found by experience that more 

21 



230 SIX YEARS IN THE 

of those died who were in the habit of frequenting it 
than any other class of people — a striking example of 
the efficacy of relics. 

The church of St. John, besides the forementioned 
relics, for which and some other things of little real 
value it is held in so great repute by the Maltese, is in 
itself a truly beautiful building, and possesses many 
monuments of the arts worthy of a better fate than to be 
made the ornaments of a place set apart for the profana- 
tion of Christianity ; for certainly the superstitious rites 
and ceremonies practised under its roof cannot justly be 
called by any other name. It possesses many fine paint- 
ings of celebrated masters, procured at an enormous 
expense by the knights, who spared neither money nor 
labour in decorating this their favourite church. The 
marble monuments erected to the memory of the Grand 
Masters of the Hierosolymitan order are worthy of a 
place in the Vatican itself, on account of the beauty of 
execution and richness of design : they might indeed 
have afforded subjects for study to the great Canova him- 
self, for they are, in the opinion of competent judges, 
master-pieces of sculpture. Besides the cathedral of St. 
Giovanni, there are other churches in this island which 
would be thought splendid, nay, magnificent, if situated 
in another place where they might not be outshone and 
their beauty undervalued by a too close comparison with 
the former. All, however, are equally profaftd by the 
idolatrous rites of popery ; and are more esteemed by 
the inhabitants for possessing some miracle-working 
image or relic, than for the beauty of architecture, or for 
being sacred to the worship of the Supreme Being. 

During my late visit to Malta, in the year 1834, an 
occurrence took place there, which, for its absurdity, 
would lead one to imagine that the reign of Vandalic 
ignorance had again returned ; and which fully proves that 
popery is the same in the nineteenth century that it was 
in the middle ages — indeed, its boast of immutability is, 
lamentably, but too true, for it preaches and practises the 
same doctrines and the same ceremonies in these our own 
times that it has done in former times, in which its mon- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 231 

strous errors gained ground on account of the general 
ignorance which then reigned. The occurrence to which 
I allude is no other than the translation of a saint's body 
sent from the catacombs at Rome into one of the principal 
churches of the Citta Vittoriosa, a town opposite Valletta, 
and divided from the latter by an arm of the sea, which 
forms the principal harbour of the island. The rotten 
bones of which this body was composed, were purchased 
at the request of the inhabitants, who collected by sub- 
scription the necessary funds, for the purpose of enrich- 
ing by their presence a church long since dedicated to the 
saint in whose name they were baptized: and which 
before this was honoured by the possession of only 
minor relics of this saint, e. g. the parings 01 his nails, 
or a drop of the water in which his feet were washed ; 
or something else of this kind. From Valletta, where 
it was first landed, packed up like a bale of merchandise, 
and marked, " Corpo Santo. Alia cur a del Reverendis- 
simo Monsig. Caruana, Arrives, di JRhoda, e Vescovo 
di Malta;" (" A holy body. Care of the Most Rev. 
Caruana, Archbishop of Rhodes and Bishop of Malta,") 
it was carried in procession, by land, a distance of three 
miles, whereas the passage by water could be accom- 
plished in five minutes, to the church for which it was 
destined, accompanied by all the clergy, secular and 
regular of the island, with lighted torches and psalters in 
their harms, and attended by an immense concourse of 
people of all grades and conditions. Upon the proces- 
sion's arriving at the church, the sanctified bones were 
deposited amid the firing of guns and acclamations of 
the multitude, on the great altar, and on the very spot of 
the same altar set apart for the exposition of the sacra- 
ment or wafer, which, as they believe, contains within 
its narrow precincts the God of Christianity ; and there 
set up during three successive days to the adoration of 
the stupid multitude. If this be not idolatry, barefaced 
idolatry too, I know not what idolatry is ! Many mira- 
cles were said to have been performed during these three 
days by touching this worthless relic : many who were 
bedrid for a number of years before, were said to have 



232 SIX YEARS IN THE 

got the use of their limbs ; some obtained sight ; others 
were freed from sickness ; and all attributed their resto- 
ration to the power of this deified filth. « 

One miracle, that made more noise than all the rest, 
being unique in its kind, is worthy of especial notice. A. 
woman f the wife of one of the wealthiest men in the 
island, found herself without children, though married 
for a number of years — more than twenty. She was 
now fast approaching to that time of life in which all 
hope of offspring is generally abandoned. This was the 
cause of no small uneasiness to herself and her husband, 
who lamented the necessity of leaving their property to 
distant relations, on account of having no children of their 
own. Physicians and their prescriptions were of no 
avail, though constantly consulted, and attended to by 
one and the other. Finding that they were nothing the 
better of the means employed for obtaining posterity, 
though they neglected nothing which had the appearance 
of being useful, they at length turned to implore help 
from on high, and spent much money in paying for 
masses to be celebrated according to their intention. On 
the arrival of the forementioned holy relic, the wife, at 
the instigation of her confessor, presented some twenty 
pounds of wax-candles to be burned before it, and was, 
during the whole triduo, in constant attendance at the 
church wherein it was kept, employed in prayer before 
it. About two months afterward, she had the satisfaction 
of being able to console her husband with the certainty 
she had of becoming a mother before long. Nor was 
she deceived, for it became shortly after manifest, that 
she was really and truly pregnant. She continued her 
devotion to the holy relic, and made no scruple to publish 
to the world the favour she obtained through the inter- 
cession of the saint, and by the touch of his holy body. 
She presented another weight of candles, and spent no 
small sum in getting masses celebrated at the shrine of 
the saint, of which her confessor was guardian and high- 
priest. This splendid miracle, for such it was universally 
acknowledged, increased, if possible, the devotion of the 
people toward the blessed relic, and caused it to be held 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC 233 

in greatest veneration by all — especially by barren women. 
Whether the woman, in favour of whom it was perform- 
ed, was safely delivered, and had the happiness of pre- 
senting her husband with a son and heir, or otherwise, I 
cannot tell, for I left the island long before such an event 
could happen, according to the ordinary course of nature. 
This only I can affirm, that it was confidently expected 
by her friends and relations, whom I well knew, that the 
child with which she was enceinte, would be something 
extraordinary, and would make itself conspicuous in some 
way, either in church or state — or perhaps in both ; for 
it was one evidently bestowed by heaven to the prayers 
and tears of a devout Christian ; for such the woman was 
esteemed, and such she was, if a superstitious reliance 
on the tenets and doctrines of popery — on saint-worship, 
and relic-worship — can make one. 

The reader may form his own judgment on the fore- 
going miracle. He may believe it, or not believe it, just 
as he thinks the circumstances require. I have related 
it as it has been related to me, and have deviated very 
little from the words of the narrator, who was one of my 
intimate friends, and a worthy man, though unfortunately 
a Maltese priest, and a firm believer in such absurdities. 
I shall only remark, that the confessor, by whose advice 
the lady supplicated the assistance of the relic in her dis- 
tress, was well known for his gallantries among his peni- 
tents, and had been suspended for a long time from his 
clerical duties by his bishop, not so much for living 
in incontinency, as for living so openly ; for, indeed, 
Bishop Caruana himself, unless very much belied, was 
not over-chaste in early life, and could charitably excuse 
the failings of human nature. He is now, however, an 
old man, and seems, by his sanctified deportment, to 
have forgotten the follies of youth, and to be making 
reparation, if he had ever transgressed his vow of chastity. 
Some freethinkers of Malta had the hardihood to say, 
that the confessor took the husband's place in relation to 
the lady, and that he had a greater share in performing 
the miracle than the holy relic. But this may be calumny, 
invented by those freethinkers, in order to lessen the 

21* 



234 SIX YEARS IN THE 

child-giving power of the relic. Let the reader judge ; I 
have stated the pro and con, but hazard no opinion. 

There is preserved in the different churches of Italy, 
and other popish countries, so great an abundance of the 
milk of the Virgin Mary, which is adored and worship- 
ped as the most valuable relics, that it would seem im- 
possible that one woman could produce so much during 
her whole life, though she were milked daily, like a cow, 
and though her infant, for whose sustenance it had been 
given by nature, had never tasted the smallest drop of it. 
Yet these portions of what is called the Madonna's milk, 
and which if brought together would form a mountain of 
cheese, sufficient to supply a cheese-eating Welsh family 
for a whole winter, are said to have flowed directly from 
the breasts of the Virgin Mary, and to have been bestow- 
ed by herself to her favourites in token of her protection, 
and of her continual watching over them. 

It would be needless and quite uninteresting to the 
reader, to relate the ridiculous fables which are told 
concerning the benefits, temporal and spiritual, which 
had been granted to those who devoutly knelt down be- 
fore and kissed these relics ; be it sufficient to observe, 
that they are on a par in absurdity with the other lying 
wonders by which the church of Rome has catered for 
the applause of her followers, and deluded the numerous 
victims of her superstitious practices. England, now 
happily free from Romish bondage, had also herself more 
than her share of this kind of trumpery before the re- 
formation. Besides the shrine of Thomas a Beckgt, which 
was noted for its immense riches, and for being the 
Mecca, not only of England, but of surrounding and far 
distant nations, it was also remarkable, according to the 
testimony of Erasmus, for a rich and splendid shrine of 
the Madonna, placed at a village called at that time St. 
Mary's, near Falmouth, and only three miles from the 
sea-coast. This, as well as the shrine of Thomas a 
Becket, and the other rich monasteries, fell into the 
hands, on the suppression of the monastic houses, of the 
wife-killing Henry, (as Cobbett calls him,) and of his no 
less rapacious and impious courtiers ; the same as if the 



» 
MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 235 

hand of God was upon the wealth amassed through 
superstition and false religion, and that He wished to 
show his indignation at the manner in which such riches 
were collected, by allowing it to serve for the gratifica- 
tion of the avarice and other evil propensities of this 
royal monster, and his demoniacal ministers — for such 
they were, with very few exceptions. 

Among the things of wonder and devotion which at- 
tracted numerous pilgrims to this temple of the Madonna, 
near Falmouth, about which we are speaking, was a relic 
of the Virgin's milk, renowned for miracles and prodi- 
gies. This famous relic brought in no small gains, from 
the numerous visiters, to the nest of idle monks, who 
were owners of it ; indeed, its church almost rivalled 
Becket's shrine itself in riches, and in the number of 
the gold and silver articles, and in the jewels and pre- 
cious stones of immense value which it possessed. The 
story of the manner in which this sacred treasure was 
obtained is thus related by Erasmus. 

A certain pious gentleman of the good old times, of 
the name of Gulielmus, (William,) and a Frenchman by 
birth, rendered himself conspicuous to the age in which 
he lived for his zeal in seeking out the relics of the 
saints, and holding them forth to the devotion of his fel- 
low Christians. Having wandered through a greater 
part of the globe, and especially the regions of the 
east, in search of those helps to salvation, he arrived at 
last in Constantinople, where his brother held the office 
of bishop. Having enjoyed in that city the society of 
his brother for a long time, he was on the point of re- 
turning to France, without having made any addition to 
his stock of relics, when he was surprised with the joy- 
ful news of a holy virgin, of Constantinople, having in 
her possession a portion of the Virgin Mary's milk. He 
now esteemed all his labours at nothing ; all his other 
relics, collected with so much trouble and expense, of 
little consequence, unless he obtained some portion of 
this sacred milk to add to their heap : he thought this 
one relic of more value than all his other relics put toge- 
ther. At last, partly by entreaty, partly by threats, and 



236 SIX YEARS IN THE 

partly by a large weight of gold, he obtained a portion 
of it, and was beatified with the possession of this esteemed 
and so eagerly desired treasure. He now, in his own 
estimation richer than Crossus, hastens home with the 
intention of depositing the fruit of his labours in the 
cathedral of Paris, his native city, to be there preserved 
as a safeguard for future ages, and an object of devotion 
to posterity ; but, alas ! nothing is constantly or for a 
long time prosperous in this world ! the poor man died 
before he had performed half his journey. When he 
found his end approaching, he called to him another 
Frenchman, one of the companions of his pilgrimage, 
and deposited in his hands the sacred treasures, and 
among the rest the Virgin's milk ; conjuring him by his 
friendship, and by the respect due to the memory of a 
faithful companion, to carry it to the place he had in- 
tended, if his life had been spared, that is, to deposit it 
in the cathedral of Paris ; and on the altar dedicated to 
the Virgin in said church. To make a long story short, 
as story-tellers say, the latter died also before his arrival 
in Paris, and, at his death, was obliged to confide the 
treasure to the care of an Englishman, another of his 
companions ; but, with many entreaties, he made him 
promise to do with it what it was his own intention to 
have done. The Englishman lived to arrive at Paris, 
and deposited (mindful of the entreaties of his dead com- 
panion, and of his own promise to him) the holy milk 
on the Virgin's altar in presence of the canons, who 
bestowed him half of it in reward of his integrity, and 
in payment of his trouble. This half, by the inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, he carried to the church of the Canons 
regular near Falmouth, where it was preserved till the 
reformation. What became of it after that period, history 
is silent ; though it is very probable that when the monks 
were obliged to change quarters, at the suppression of the 
monasteries, it was borne by them to some country where 
it would meet with more devout worshippers than it could 
possibly expect among the half-frantic population of Eng- 
land at that period. Erasmus adds, that, lest there could 
arise any doubt of the genuineness of the relic, there 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 237 

were affixed to the tablet, on which the foregoing history 
was related, the names, signed by their own hands, of 
the different ecclesiastical superiors in England, and 
especially of those belonging to the monastery of the 
church in which it was preserved. An indulgence 
also of forty days was granted to all the faithful who 
devoutly visit it, and bestow a small gift for defray- 
ing the expenses attending its due keeping, that is, for 
candles, oil, &c. to be kept burning before it. By these 
small gifts, however, it arrived, or rather the monks 
arrived at the possession of the immense treasures — the 
accumulation of ages — for which the church was distin- 
guished, more indeed than for the piety of those to whom 
it belonged. 

It would be needless to proceed farther with the in- 
quiry concerning relics and relic-worship. What has 
been already said, will be sufficient to show to the reader 
the manner in which this idolatrous practice is upheld, 
and the barefaced disregard for truth, or even probability, 
for which its advocates distinguish themselves. I shall, 
therefore, pass over in silence the numerous pieces of the 
true cross ; the .clothes in which the infant Jesus was 
wrapped, when born ; the staff of St. Joseph ; the holy 
prepuce ; what distinguished the gender of Balaam's ass ; 
the nails which pierced the hands of our Saviour ; the 
crown of thorns ; the chains with which St. Peter was 
bound ; in fine, all the other objects of superstition by 
which the Christian is turned away from the worship of 
God, and from trusting his salvation to the atonement of 
Christ, in order to place it upon the inventions of priests, 
whose love of gain excites them to substitute any thing, 
and show any way, rather than that pointed out for man's 
salvation in the divinely inspired volume. 



238 SIX YEARS IN THE 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Indulgences — When first granted — Leo X. publishes indulgences- • 
Form of indulgences — Language of indulgence-mountebanks— 
Extract from the "Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery" — Dispute 
between the Augustinians and Dominicans — Luther, and the 
reformation — Galileo Galilei — Decline of indulgences in Italy — 
The pope grants indulgences ; gratis, because he could find no 
purchasers — The Cruzada — Spaniards obliged by the secular arm to 
purchase indulgences — Probable income of the pope from the sale of 
indulgences in Spain — Bishops endowed with the power of grant- 
ing and selling indulgences — Obliged to pay an annual rent to the 
pope — A bishop suspended from his functions, and confined to a 
convent, by reason of not being able to pay the pope's rent. 

The doctrine of indulgences is another of those money- 
making impositions, by which the church of Rome main- 
tains her sway over the consciences of Christians, and 
entices them by the false doctrine of the vicarious merits 
of saints, to trust their salvation rather to these than to 
the all-sufficient atonement of Christ. Indulgences may 
be defined " a remission of punishments due to sin, ob- 
tained by paying a certain sum of money, by which the 
superfluous good works of the saints, that is, those which 
were over and above the quantity required for their own 
salvation, are purchased from the church.'''' These good 
works may be applied by the person purchasing them, 
either to his own private use, in remission of the punish- 
ment due to his own sins, or they may be applied in 
suffrage of the souls of his friends, suffering in the not 
very agreeable region of purgatory. 

This curious, though money-making doctrine, seems 
to have derived its origin from the unscriptural doctrine 
of salvation by works. According to the doctrine of the 
Romish church, all the good works of the saints, which 
were over and above those required for their own salva- 
tion, are deposited, together with the merits of Christ, in 
one immense heap, and that the church, i. e. the pope, 
has the power of using this treasure, and of opening it to 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 239 

those who are willing to purchase a part of it for their 
own souls, or the souls of their departed relatives. 

The invention of indulgences seems to have taken place 
in the eleventh century, under the pontificate of Urban II., 
who granted them in recompense to those who went in 
person upon the enterprise of conquering the Holy Land : 
they were afterward bestowed upon those who hired a 
soldier for that purpose, and in process of time, they were 
given to those who contributed money to any purpose 
which the pope may have at heart to accomplish. No 
invention of the Romish church, perhaps not that of relics 
itself, has been more openly abused, and made the source 
of more unhallowed gain, than this one of indulgences. 
Leo the Tenth, in order to carry on the magnificent 
structure of St. Peter's, published indulgences, and a 
plenary remission of sins to all who would in any wise 
contribute money toward it. Finding the scheme to turn 
out well, he granted to Albert, elector of Mentz, and 
archbishop of Magdeburg, the benefits of the indulgences 
of Saxony and the neighbouring parts, and farmed out 
those of other countries to the highest bidders. These, 
to make the most of their contract, procured the ablest 
preachers to cry up the value of the ware. The form of 
the indulgences wfts as follows : Dominus noster, Jesus 
Christus misereatur tui, et te absolvat per merita suae 
sanctissimae passionis. Et ego, ex auctoritate illius, et 
sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et Domini nostri 
sanctissimi, papae mihi concessa, et commissa pro his 
partibus, absolvo te ab omnibus censuris ecclesiasticis, 
quocunque modo incursis,* et ab omnibus delictis, et 
peccatis, etiam ab his reservatis ad peculiarem sanctae sedis 
cognitionem ; tibi remitto omnem pcenam, quam in pur- 
gatorio pati debes propter haec, et te restituo ad partici- 
pationem sacramentorum sanctae ecclesiae, ad unitatem 
fidelium, et ad earn innocentiam, et puritatem quam in 
baptismo possedisti : sic quum morieris, portae inferni 

* The reader ought to bear in mind that the pope has also the 
privilege of making new Latin words. The above barbarism (" in~ 
cursis") is a specimen of his infallibility in grammar Purgatorium 
is another popish and infallible barbarism. 



240 SIX YEARS IN THE 

claudantur, et paridisi portae aperiantur, et si statim non 
decesseris, in' plena vi gratia haec tibi remaneat usque ad 
mortis articulum. In nomine Patris et Filii, et Spiritus 
sancti. Amen. (May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy 
upon thee, and absolve thee by the merits of his most 
holy passion. And I, by his authority, and that of the 
blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and of our most holy 
lord, the pope, absolve thee from all ecclesiastical cen- 
sures, in whatever manner incurred, and from all thy sins 
and transgressions ; even from such as are reserved for 
the cognizance of the holy see. I remit all punishment 
which thou deservest in purgatory on their account, and I 
restore thee to the holy sacraments of the church, to the 
unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity 
which thou didst possess at baptism, so that when thou 
diest, the gates of hell shall be shut, and the gates of para- 
dise shall be opened ; and if thou diest not at present, 
this grace shall remain in full force when thou art at the 
point of death. In the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.) 

In a book called " The Tax of the Sacred Roman Chan- 
eery," in which are contained the exact sums to be paid 
in order to obtain pardon for each particular sin, the fol- 
lowing curious items of some of the fees are to be found: 

For procuring abortion, - 

For simony, - 

For sacrilege^ 

For taking a false oath, in criminal cases, 

For burning a neighbour's house, 

For defiling a virgin, - 

For lying with a mother, sister, &c. 

For murdering a layman, - 

For keeping a concubine, - 

For laying violent hands on a clergyman, 

* This curious book was published in Oxford at the time of the 
reformation in England. It is now very scarce, all the copies being 
bought up by the emissaries of popery, in order to do away with the 
evidences of the iniquity of their church. There is a copy, however, 
preserved in the Bodleian library, at Oxford, whence Smith has ex- 
tracted the above to insert in his book called " The Errors of the 
Church of Rome." 



$1 


90 


2 


60 


2 


60 


2 


25 


3 


00 


2 


25 


1 


90 


1 


90 


2 


60 


2 


60* 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 241 

The terms in which the retailers of indulgences cried 
up their efficacy, and the manner in which they enforced 
the necessity of purchasing them on their benighted 
audiences, would, were it not tampering with immortal 
souls, and plunging them headlong into the soul-destroy- 
ing gulf of false reliance, be rather a subject for ridicule 
than for serious comment. The mode practised in Germany 
at the era of the reformation by Tetzel, the Dominican 
indulgence-monger, and his worthy coadjutors, would be 
sufficient to excite the spleen of even the most ignorantly 
attached to popish superstitions, and therefore there is no 
wonder that a Luther rose up against them ; one who, 
as his after career made manifest, was possessed of supe- 
rior talents buried in the mire of monkish ignorance and 
slavery ; and who perhaps only waited for the favourable 
moment to free Christianity from the monstrous absurd- 
ities with which she was weighed down at that period, 
and with which she is still weighed down in whatever 
place she appears in the meretricious garb of popery. 
Robertson, in his history' of Charles V., gives the follow- 
ing specimen of pulpit eloquence, employed for the pur- 
pose of disposing of this new kind of merchandise in the 
sixteenth century: "If any man" (preached the indul- 
gence mountebanks) "purchase letters of indulgence, his 
soul may rest secure with respect to its salvation. The 
souls confined in purgatory, for whose redemption indul- 
gences are purchased, as soon as the money tinkles in the 
chest, instantly escape from that place of torment, and 
ascend into heaven. That the efficacy of indulgences 
was so great, that the most heinous sins, even if one should 
violate the Mother of God, would be remitted, and expi- 
ated by them, and the person be freed both from punish- 
ment and guilt. That this was the unspeakable gift of 
God in order to reconcile man to himself. That the cross 
erected by the preachers of indulgences was equally effi- 
cacious with the cross of Christ itself. Lo ! the heavens 
are open ; if you enter not now, when will you enter ? 
For twelve pence you may redeem the soul of your father 
out of purgatory, and are you so ungrateful, that you will 
not rescue the soul of your parent from torment? If you 

22 



242 SIX YEARS IN THE 

had but one eoat, you ought to strip yourself instantly and 
sell it in order to purchase such benefits." 

By such impious harangues as this were Christians 
led astray from the only sure way of obtaining salvation, 
by placing their hopes and confidence on the atonement 
of Christ, and directed to place them upon the absurd 
and ridiculous substitutes invented by their self-interested 
and greedy teachers for their own private emoluments. 

The state of the popish clergy in the sixteenth century 
must have been wholly abandoned and lost to every 
sense of religion, when such impieties were not resisted 
or contradicted, only through the jealousy that one order 
entertained for another — through the jealousy of the 
Augustinians against the Dominicans. It is evident, that 
the Augustinian general did not excite his subjects to 
preach against the Dominican blasphemous abuse of in- 
dulgences (if indeed abuse can be applied to things which 
never had any proper effectual use) for any better reason 
than a hatred of the latter order, and the envy with which 
his mind was filled, at seeing the immense sums flowing 
into its coffers from the sale of indulgences ; and by no 
means because he compassionated the many immortal 
souls, which were unawares dragged into perdition, by 
trusting their salvation to the efficacy imputed to such 
trumpery by its lying and antichristian venders. This 
enmity against the Dominicans was likewise increased 
# by a sense of wrong, that he considered committed against 
his own order ; for the Augustinians had heretofore the 
honour of being the pope's agents in Germany, when his 
holiness invented any thing new to replenish his exhaust- 
ed treasury at the expense of the eternal happiness of his 
deluded followers. This agency was, on the publication 
of indulgences by Leo X., withdrawn from them and 
granted to the Dominicans by the Archbishop of Magde- 
burg; by which were sown the seeds of dissension be- 
tween these two powerful orders. Little did monseigneur 
the bishop imagine that this preference shown for the 
Dominicans, would be the moving cause of that memora- 
ble revolution, which, in the end, dissipated the clouds 
of error, with which the pure atmosphere of genuine 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 248 

Christianity was for so many ages covered over, and by 
which it was rendered pestilential. Luther rose up at 
the command of his general, and began to preach, first 
against the abuses of indulgences, and then, against 
indulgences themselves. The latter part of his mission 
was not contained in his letters of instruction, and there- 
fore he incurred the displeasure of his employer, the 
general of his order, who, however he might be excited 
by envy to endeavour to supplant the Dominicans in the 
monopoly of indulgences, had not the least wish of un- 
deceiving the people who were victims to the imposi- 
tion. Indeed, had he succeeded in transferring the sale 
of them from the Dominicans to his own order, the 
people would be nothing the gainers by the change. 
"Quicquid peccant reges, plectuntur Achivi" — -which 
translated into modern language would mean, "whoever 
dances, we must pay the piper" — could very properly be 
taken as their motto ; for whichsoever of the rival orders 
would gain the ascendency, and become sales-masters of 
his holiness' wares, the wares were always the same, 
and suffered no diminution in their intrinsic value, or 
rather no value, their pernicious qualities being the same, 
when sold either by a Dominican or an Augustinian. 

Luther was ordered to retract what he had preached 
against indulgences ; but he had gone already too far for 
an honourable retractation ; he therefore boldly threw off 
the cloak under which he had hitherto concealed his real 
opinions ; being unquestionably an instrument in the 
hands of God, who, compassionating in his own good 
time the forlorn and fallen state of his church, deigned 
to choose, by one of those wonderful and unsearchable 
ways of his infinite wisdom, from the very propagators 
of the errors with which she was polluted, a person to 
dispel those errors, and make vanish before the face of 
truth the flimsy support by which they were upheld, and 
by which they were impiously palmed upon his people 
as the way in which he loved to be worshipped. All 
things considered, if any one human event was ever 
brought about by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, 
the reformation seems to be that one. In whatever light 



244 SIX YEARS IN THE 

this glorious event be viewed ; whether as the means by 
which the human mind was freed from the bondage in 
which it was held during past ages, and which hindered 
a Galileo* from exercising his natural vigour in laying 

* The treatment which the immortal Galileo experienced from the 
machinations of the court of Rome, framed, as he himself expresses 
it, " by three most powerful engineers, envy, ignorance, and impiety," 
may serve as an example of the blasting influence of the papal breath 
over every thing in the shape of improvement or amelioration, and 
of the chains in which the human mind was kept by the influence 
of a court, whose head the pope was proverbially known for his 
abhorrence of genius and literature. Galileo having published his 
system of the world, and especially his discovery of the earth's motion 
round the sun, the cry of heresy was immediately raised by the 
ignorant monks and other soi-disant learned savages, that surround^ 
ed the papal throne ; among whom Ballarmin, the Jesuit, and Jesuiti- 
cal polemic, rendered himself conspicuous for the strength of his 
lungs, in crying down a truth, which, with all his school chaotic 
knowledge, he could not understand. His preachers, choosing their 
text from the Acts of the Apostles, " Viri Galilei, quid statis aspicientes 
in coelum," (Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking toward the 
heavens 1) without considering the sin of punning upon the Divine 
word, were also encouraged by him to denounce, as a heresy, what 
their brutal minds were incapable of understanding. The immortal 
author was summoned to Rome by Urban VIII., to stand his trial for 
heresy ; that is, for promulgating a truth, acknowledged by all suc- 
ceeding ages. Though an old man, and of an appearance so venera- 
ble as to be able to command respect from a synod of savages, he 
was placed by the inquisitors, worse than savages, in their horrible 
dungeons, and treated in other ways with the greatest barbarity. After 
fifty days' imprisonment, he was ordered by them, even without hear- 
ing his defence, or without their going through the formality of attend- 
ing to it, to abjure, curse, and detest (abjurare, maledicere, et detestare, 
are the express words) the motion of the earth, of the truth of which 
he was so intimately convinced. Thus, because his stupid godship 
the pope says " the earth remains firm," his " ipse dixit" must have 
more weight than the convincing arguments to the contrary of a 
Galileo, and the sun must move round the earth under pain of ex- 
communication. After-ages have done justice to Galileo, and even 
after-popes, forgetting the honour and infallibility of their predeces- 
sors, have been obliged to acknowledge the truth of his system, 
which is now publicly taught in all the Italian schools. What be- 
comes then of papal infallibility, when facts of this nature stare the 
reader of history in almost every page 1 Popish controvertists will 
say, " O ! that is not fair, for we claim infallibility for his holiness 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 245 

open to his fellow mortals the wonders of the creation, 
and thereby increasing their love and adoration for the 
Creator ; or as the re-establishment of that pure form of 
worship which God vouchsafed to manifest to mortals, 
though at the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, and 
which condescension and goodness on the part of God, 
and obedience on the part of his Son, were rendered of 
no avail to obtain the ends for which they were designed, 
through human inventions, and diabolical substitutes ; 
whether, in fine, the reformation be looked upon in either 
a temporal or spiritual point of view, it must be acknow- 
ledged from its consequences so fraught with benefits to 
man, that the finger of God directed its beginning and its 
progress, and that those, who bore so conspicuous parts 
in it, acted under the immediate guidance of the Spirit of 
truth. 

Having thus taken a hasty glance at the rise and pro- 
gress of indulgences, and at the blessed event which, 
through their unwilling agency, was brought about in 
the sixteenth century ; let us now proceed to examine 
the present state of that profitable doctrine, and the 
manner it is actually carried on in the church of Rome. 
Indulgences seem to have lost their value in modern 
times. The light of pure Christianity, scattered abroad 
by the endeavours of Protestant missionaries, and the 
more general education of the people of all countries, 
except those in which popery is the only religion tole- 
rated, by which I mean Spain and Italy in particular, 
have tended very much to lessen the esteem formerly 
entertained for this new method of obtaining salvation, 
by bringing home to the minds of the people its ineffi- 
cacy, and its wide discrepancy from the way marked out 
in the revealed word. In Spain and Italy, however, it 
is still a very profitable doctrine, and fully repays the 

only in things appertaining to religion, and not in those belonging to 
philosophy !" Don't be alarmed, good deceivers of mankind, I will 
push my argument no farther, but simply ask, calling to your mind 
the old saying, " ne sutor ultra crepidam" why then does he mingle 
in things which do not appertain to him, and which he does not 
understand ] 

22* 



246 SIX YEARS IN THE 

trouble of those who preach it. It would seem, from the 
very cautious manner in which indulgences are preached 
now-a-days, that popery has at length learned to blush, 
and that the grossly overacted systems of impostures 
have at length been judged too barefaced by their very 
inventors. While ever there was a probability of catching 
any one in their nets, the preachers of indulgences per- 
severed in their labours, excited thereto by an insatiable 
thirst for gain ; but when not even the most stupid, in 
other respects, could be any longer duped out of their 
money by paying for such glaring impositions, then in- 
deed they thought it full time to sound a retreat, and 
hide themselves under an edict from the pope, by which 
his holiness graciously granted indulgences of a certain 
class for — not money, for he found he could get no more 
of that — but for " Pater-nosters and Ave Marias," 
alleging, for a reason of this benevolence, that the sums 
required for the object specified at their first promul- 
gation were already made up, and that, therefore, he 
was unwilling to withhold the merits of the saints from 
those who were unable to purchase them, and who panted 
after their efficacy. What a charitable being his holi- 
ness is ! 

This granting of indulgences for nothing was not done 
without design ; indeed, the purpose of so granting them 
them was twofold : the first, and principal, lest, by 
formally abolishing them altogether, which would be an 
act of honesty of which the church of Rome is seldom 
guilty, the church might seem to have erred, in having 
ever started and made an article of faith of so absurd a 
doctrine ; the second, that they might not run into dis- 
use, but remain in a kind of inactive vigour, till time and 
some happy changes in the dispositions of the people 
might make it advisable to resuscitate them from their 
lethargic inactivity. This gratuitous granting of indul- 
gences was only in force in the states immediately sub- 
ject to the temporal as well as spiritual control of Rome. 
These states were the first to cry out against the soul- 
killing imposition, because they saw daily before their 
eyes the use to which the money obtained at the expense 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 247 

of the souls of Christians was converted by those that 
obtained the division of the booty — by the cardinals, 
monks, and prelates. To stop their mouths, the above- 
mentioned edict was published by command of his ho- 
liness, and extended to other countries, according as such 
countries began to decline in purchasing the indulgences, 
or to take notice of their inefficacy for obtaining the end 
for which they were published — redemption of souls from 
purgatory, and remission of sin in this world. 

The sale of indulgences is continued in Spain to the 
present time, under the pretext of supporting the holy 
sepulchre in Jerusalem. It is called the cruzada. Per- 
mission is granted to those who purchase this bull for 
four Spanish reals, to eat meat every day in the year, 
lent and Fridays included. In the reign of the late tyran- 
nical bigot, Ferdinand VII., the masters of the posadas, 
or innkeepers, had the power of demanding of their guests 
to show their bulls before sitting down to table, and if 
they refused, or had eaten meat without being pro- 
vided with such, they were liable to be fined or impri- 
soned by the secular arm. Every Spaniard, especially 
those who were constantly journeying, as muleteers, 
pedlars, beggars, &c, had small pockets made in their 
clothes for the purpose of holding their bulls. In this 
they resemble the rajahs, or subjects of the grand sig- 
nor, who are not Mahometans ; for these are obliged to 
pay so much annually to the government, for which they 
obtain a kind of pass, which they are obliged to con- 
stantly keep about their persons, in case of being asked 
for it by the Turkish officers, and not being able to pro- 
duce it, they are immediately imprisoned and fined — and 
bastinadoed to boot. The Spanish Turk, though under 
a weaker pretext, has imitated the sultan in this, as he 
has done in many acts of tyrannical injustice, and all 
under the sanction and by the advice of the Christian 
mufti, called, by Europeans, " His Holiness, the Pope." 
The income derived from indulgences sold in the king- 
dom of Spain alone, is computed at five hundred thou- 
sand dollars annually. This sum is sent to Rome, to be 
employed by the pope nominally in keeping the holy 



«N 



248 SIX YEARS IN THE 

sepulchre free from the encroachment of infidels, but 
really, as a kind of Peter's pence, which he converts to 
his own private use, or spends in satisfying the avarice 
of his cardinals and courtiers. As much more, very 
probably, is kept by the Spanish monks, and by those to 
whom the sale of indulgences was granted, in payment 
of their trouble ; so that we may say that one million of 
dollars is wrung from the hands of a starving population, 
under pretext of supporting Christianity, of obtaining 
remission of sin, and of making use Of food upon which 
the book containing the precepts of Christianity, or its 
Divine Author, had never laid any restriction. 

The same way of extorting money was attempted to 
be established in the Roman states ; but not with equal 
success. The Romans are contented with the indul- 
gences obtained for the trouble of muttering a Pater-noster 
or an Ave Maria before the image of some saint, without 
spending their money to supply luxuries to priests. 
The higher classes, however, in order to keep up a show 
of obedience to the church, and not through any love or 
respect for its ordinances, or reliance on the trumpery 
held out as helps to salvation, purchase the liberty of 
eating prohibited meats. Indeed, the Romans in general 
have more just notions of the value of these things than 
any other popish nation in the world ; and if they had the 
power, I am confident they would soon free themselves 
from them altogether. But they are kept in awe by the 
camions of St. Angelo and Austrian bayonets ; and are 
therefore obliged to patiently submit to evils they cannot 
prevent. The time will come, however, and in all pro- 
bability it is not far distant, when the former masters of 
the world will be freed from the galling trammels of their 
purple tyrants, and show to the world, that though they 
may have lived for ages under their rod, yet the hereditary 
horror of slavery is not entirely extinct in their breasts, 
though it may have been rendered torpid through inability 
to exercise it, and seem smothered under oppression ; 
and that they do not dishonour the glorious name of 
"Romans" left to them by their warlike ancestors. 

The bishops of each diocess in those countries where 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 249 

popery predominates, have also the privilege of selling- 
indulgences attached to their episcopal office. This 
privilege is understood as one farmed directly from the 
pope, to whom, as farmer-general of the merits of Christ 
and the saints, they are obliged to pay an annual rent ; 
and as it forms one of the items of their income, they 
endeavour to cry up as much as possible the value of the 
ware. The inferior clergy and parish priests are directed 
by them, accordingly, to inculcate on the minds of the 
people the value and efficacy of indulgences, and the 
certainty of redeeming from the tormenting regions of 
purgatory the souls of their parents, friends, and bene- 
factors, by purchasing the bulls by which they are 
granted. Bishops, who are ambitious of attaining to 
higher dignities in the church, or who are desirous of 
being translated from the poor diocesses to which they 
' are appointed, to richer ones, cannot practise a better 
method to propitiate the court of Rome, and to forward 
their own ambitious and avaricious designs, than by 
sending to the pope large sums of money, under pretext 
of its being collected by the sale of indulgences. This 
species of simony is extensively practised by popish 
priests and prelates, and perhaps nine out of ten of the 
bishops who are set over diocesses had no greater quali- 
fication for that high office than bribery and the weight 
of their purses. There are some cases on record of 
bishops having been summoned to Rome to answer for 
misconduct, because they had not transmitted, either 
through inability or roguery, the usual sum annually 
required at their hands. If they should plead in excuse 
that they were unable to dispose of the indulgences, and 
that their flocks were either unable or unwilling to pur- 
chase them, they are immediately answered, " that they 
had not exerted themselves in preaching their efficacy, 
for otherwise the people would sell every thing they had 
in order to become possessed of such inestimable trea- 
sures." 

I knew an old Neapolitan bish©p, of the Capuchin order, 
who was created Bishop of Cotrone, in Calabria, at the 
request of the King of Naples, but being unable to pay 



250 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the accustomed sum annually to the pope, he was accused 
of heresy at Rome, and confined to his convent at Saler- 
vio, for the remainder of his days. It turned out afterward 
that the pope Leo XII., of immortally infamous memory, 
had sold his diocess to one who was both able to satisfy his 
avarice and to pay regularly the stipulated sums, but with 
little disadvantage to himself, for he obliged his flock 
to provide themselves with indulgences, whether they 
liked them or not. Such a bishop as this was in a fair 
way of preferment at the court of Rome, while the poor 
old Capuchin, more scrupulous, perhaps, (though, indeed, 
few of that order are troubled with scruples,) was sus- 
pended and driven from his diocess, it is said, on account 
of the delicacy of his conscience. He seemed to be a 
very worthy old man, and had passed through the differ- 
ent gradations of his order with eclat. I was present at 
his death, in the Capuchin convent of Salerno, and heard 
the above reason assigned by one of the monks for his 
disgrace ; but whether it was not rather through indolence 
than conscience he refused to preach, or cause to be 
preached, the doctrine of indulgences, which was the only 
way he had of making up the pope's tribute, I am unable 
to judge, but suspect it was rather through the former, 
especially when it be. taken into consideration that he 
was a man of a very advanced age, and therefore incapable 
of that vigour required to enforce his orders. It seems, 
also, highly improbable, that in his old age, the work- 
ings of conscience would oblige him to finish a long life 
of preaching and practising the worst tenets of Rome, 
with a denial of the truth of such tenets, by refusing to 
exercise himself to the last in propagating them : it is, 
in fine, possible, that he had been touched with convic- 
tion of their fallacy, even at that late period, though, in- 
deed, judging from daily experience, it is highly improba- 
ble, and if it be true, it is a thing unique in its kind, for 
men, especially monks, generally die as they have lived. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 251 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Conscientious bishops — Monsignor Gondolfi — Maronites — Mon- 
signor Gondolfi sent in the character of apostolic delegate to the 
eastern churches — Decline of popery, and cause of that decline, 
among the Maronites — Gondolfi's instructions — Cunning of his 
holiness, cloaked under a love for the souls of the Maronites — Gon- 
dolfi's early life — State of the monks attached to the holy sepulchre 
at Jerusalem — Gondolfi endeavours to reform them — The monks 
accuse him of heresy at the court of Rome — Obliged to be on his 
guard against the machinations of the monks — He removes to 
Mount Libanus — State of the Maronite clergy and people — Distri- 
bution of the Scriptures made by the Protestant missionaries among 
the Maronites — The Maronite clergy accuse Gondolfi at Rome — 
He is recalled, but refuses to obey — He is expelled from the con- 
vent — Arrival of his successor — Bibles burned by thousands— Gon- 
dolfi is poisoned by a Maronite priest — The Maronites report that 
his death was caused by the vengeance of God — Indulgences for 
committing sin — Alexander VI. — Massacre of St. Bartholomew — 
Fra Paolo — Curious theological disquisition. 

There are, however, some bishops — and it is to be 
lamented that they are so few — whose consciences are 
not "seared with a hot iron" and who endeavour, as far 
as they can do it without danger to themselves, to lead 
those committed to their charge through the gospel path 
of salvation, and to preach more frequently the doctrines 
of Christ than the doctrines of men. These lay little 
stress on the value of indulgences, and other popish in- 
ventions, though they are obliged to keep private their 
aversion for such trumpery, lest they might incur the dis- 
pleasure of the pope and his myrmidons. Whenever it 
is discovered that they teach their flock to place greater 
reliance on Christ and his merits, than on the pope and 
his saints ; and when the deficit in their annual returns 
for the sale of indulgences proves their little zeal in preach- 
ing them ; (though such as wish to remain in favour with 
Rome, make up the required sum from their own private 
income, if they be rich enough ;) they are then accused 
of heresy, like the old Capuchin bishop mentioned above, 



252 SIX YEARS IN THE 

and if their persons be in the immediate power of the 
pope, they are inquisitioned, that is, they are hurled into 
the dungeons of that horrid tribunal. Indeed, bishops of 
this description are popish only in name, and generally 
oppressed by the overwhelming power of papal influence, 
long before an opportunity presents of being of any per- 
manent service to the cause of Christ. They want but 
the opportunity to become zealous Christian pastors ; 
and had their lot been cast in other countries than those 
groaning under papal bondage, they would exhibit them- 
selves true and faithful preachers of the gospel of salva- 
tion, and be inestimable blessings to the people among 
which they might be placed. As it is, such as are of this 
class — and, perhaps, one out of a hundred may be found — 
and not more — they endeavour, as far as they can without 
personal danger, to preach Christ and Him crucified to 
their people, to lay open to them the hopes of salvation 
as written in the book of life, and to leave the peculiar 
doctrines of popery (which, if their real opinions were 
known, they would be found to consider antichristian) 
in the background, or pass them over as unworthy of 
notice. 

■The Italian missionary bishop, Monsignor Gondolfi, 
who was sent by the pope, in the character of " apostolic 
delegate," to the churches of the Maronites,* and other 

* A sect of eastern Christians, who follow the Syrian rite, and 
who submitted to the papal yoke in 1182. They are called Maronites 
from Maro, their first bishop, who, it is supposed by some ecclesiasti- 
cal writers, was a strenuous defender of the doctrine of the Monothe- 
lites, or those who allowed but one will in Jesus Christ, (from povov, 
alone, single, de\rma, will,) and who, flying from the convent of St. 
Maro, situated upon the borders of the Orontes, came to Mount 
Libanus, and instructed the inhabitants in that doctrine. The modern 
Maronites endeavour to contradict this general opinion, and to main- 
tain, that their ancestors had always lived in obedience to the see of 
Rome, and had always held the doctrines established as orthodox by 
that church. But their arguments seem very weak in support of that 
claim, for the united testimonies of many historians, well acquainted 
with the subject, and who had recourse to most authentic records, 
fully prove that they were not only formerly Monothelites, but also 
held that doctrine down to the time of submitting themselves to the 
authority of Rome, in the twelfth century. Mosheim tells us, " that 



t 
MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 253 

popish churches on Mount Libanus, may serve as an ex- 
ample of a virtuous, conscientious man, struggling against 
popish delusions, and endeavouring to direct the people 
to whom he was sent, to Christ for salvation, and not to 
the pope, and his impositions. The story of this worthy 
man I learned at Smyrna, Asia Minor, from those — 
chiefly Protestant missionaries — who were personally 
acquainted with him, and who to this day lament his 
untimely death, caused, as will be seen in the sequel, by 
the machinations of Rome. 

Monsignor Gondolfi was commissioned, by the court 
of Rome, to proceed to the east, under the title of 
" delegate apostolico" or apostolic delegate. His im- 
plied duty was to take care of the interests of the church 
of Rome in that quarter, and to impress upon the minds 
of the inhabitants the peculiar doctrines of that church, 

the Maronites stipulated to submit themselves to the spiritual jurisdic- 
tion of the church of Rome, under the express condition that neither 
the pope, nor his emissaries, should attempt to abolish, or change, 
any thing that related to their ancient rites, or religious opinions ; so 
that, in reality, there is nothing to be found among them that savours 
of popery, except their attachment to the Roman pontiff." This may 
have been very true in the days of Mosheim, but it is evident from 
the relation of modern travellers and missionaries, that the Maronites, 
now-a-days, are thorough papists, whether regarded in their supersti- 
tious observances of popish doctrines and usages, or in their servile 
adherence to the purple tyrant of the western churches. There are 
some Maronites, however, in Syria, who still behold the church of 
Rome with aversion, and some of that nation, residing in Italy, have 
been known to oppose the pope's authority in the last century, and to 
unite themselves to the Waldenses, in the valleys of Piedmont ; while 
others, to the number of six hundred, with a bishop and several 
ecclesiastics at their head, fled into Corsica, and implored the protec- 
tion of the republic of Genoa, against the violence of the inquisitors. 
The patriarch of the Maronites, who is always called Peter, as if he 
claimed to be the lawful successor of that apostle, lives in the monas- 
tery of Cannubin, on Mount Libanus. He is elected by the clergy 
and the people, though since their subjection to the church of Rome, 
he is obliged to have a bull of confirmation from the pope. There 
are innumerable monasteries of Maronite monks on Mount Libanus, 
and in other parts of Syria; all distinguished, like their western 
brethren, for their abominable superstitions, supine ignorance, and 
last, not least, for their endeavours to increase the general ignorance 
of the people, and to enrich themselves at their expense. 

23 



254 SIX YEARS IN THE 

which, as was complained of by the Maronite clergy, 
were fast losing ground, through the exertions of Pro- 
testant missionaries, and the distribution of the Scriptures 
made by them. He was instructed to warn the people 
against the light of the gospel, shed abroad by the labours 
of those missionaries, and to bring them back, if possible, 
to the state of darkness and irreligion in which they were 
prior to their labours among them. The Maronite priests 
and monks were to be considered as the more especial 
object of his mission ; these he was to exhort and en- 
courage to be constant and persevering in preaching the 
popish doctrines, and in leading the people to a blind 
reliance on them for salvation. As a stimulus to their 
zeal, he was supplied by his holiness with a camel load 
of bulls, containing indulgences enough to wash Mahomet 
himself from his sins, if the Arab prophet could be sup- 
posed foolish enough to place any reliance upon them. 
These bulls, he was at liberty to dispose of to the monks, 
and other priests, of Mount Libanus, at a very low price 
— so much per hundred — who could afterward retail 
them at higher rates to the people, and thus be gainers 
by the speculation. His instructions even went farther : 
for if he found the clergy unable, or unwilling, to pur- 
chase the indulgences, he was commanded to give them 
at first cost, and for what they are really worth — nothing. 
By this policy, the pope hoped to get rid of his superflu- 
ous stock of indulgences, which he very prudently con- 
sidered it more advantageous to dispose of at half price, 
or even for what they cost himself — nothing, — than to 
have them lying as useless lumber on his hands, and 
also, he was certain of one good effect proceeding from 
thus disposing of them, for he would thereby enlist the 
avarice of the Maronite priests in support of his authority, 
who would be obliged, while making sale of them to the 
people, and crying up their value, to mingle the authority 
of himself — the granter of them — with the praises of their 
efficacy. 

This attempt to revive the dying superstitions of the 
Maronites was very well planned, and would very pro- 
bably have had the desired success, had the man selected 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 255 

for carrying it into execution remained faithful to the 
trust reposed in him ; and which he could not do, unless, 
at the same time, he wished to remain unfaithful to God, 
and the dictates of his own conscience ; for no one can 
serve two masters, God and mammon — God and the 
pope. Monsignor Gondolfi then chose the better part, 
and preferred the service of God to the service of God's 
enemy ; in fine, he chose rather to be faithful to God, 
though at the same time he exposed himself to the 
machinations of that church, which has long since dyed 
her garments in the blood of God's people, and which, a 
short time after, added him to the number of those, who, 
at the day of judgment, will be crying out for vengeance 
against her — their murderer. He had, long before his 
appointment to the eastern mission, lamented the fallen 
state of the Romish church, and the innumerable absurd 
doctrines palmed upon the people by that church, as the 
essential and component parts of Christianity. Born of 
humble parents, with property barely sufficient to give 
himself and his brother (an eminent physician, still liv- 
ing, I believe, at Damascus) a liberal education, he early 
distinguished himself among his equals for his talents 
and acquirements, and attracted the notice of a cardinal, 
whose name I do not now recollect, who was his patron 
and friend during life ; moved thereto, not by the adven- 
titious circumstances of rank or riches, but by the in- 
herent merits of young Gondolfi. Through his patronage 
and protection, he was, at an early age, created a prelate 
of the Romish church, having first rendered himself dis- 
tinguished in most of the Italian pulpits, for his eloquence 
and preaching. He was at his fiftieth year made "Epis- 
copus in partibus," or a bishop in pagan countries, and 
soon afterward appointed to the eastern mission. Long 
before his departure from Rome for Syria, he had made 
up his mind to do his utmost in reforming the abuses of 
the church of Rome, and was predetermined to follow 
the gospel as his guide, and to preach Jesus Christ and 
not the pope, to the people over whom he might be 
placed in authority. It is even said, that he meditated 
a journey to Switzerland, and under the protection of the 



256 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Swiss government, was determined to openly show his 
detestation for popery, but that his appointment as dele- 
gate to Syria prevented him putting into execution that 
design, for he considered that he would have a wider 
field for propagating the religion of Jesus Christ among 
the Maronites, and other inhabitants of that region, than 
he possibly could expect to have in Switzerland, which 
was already blessed with many faithful preachers of the 
gospel. 

Upon his arrival at Jerusalem, which city,, according 
to his instructions, he was first to visit, he opened his 
commission, not by producing the bulls and indulgences 
with which his holiness had armed him, and which, 
perhaps, sanctified the belly of some fish, and gave it a 
passport to the pope's heaven, as he very probably 
threw them overboard, as a useless encumbrance, long 
before his landing — but by openly avowing his determi- 
nation of using the authority bestowed him in reforming 
the lives of the idle, indolent, atheistical monks, chiefly 
Spanish and Italian, who had convents in the holy city, 
under pretext of serving and officiating at the holy 
sepulchre. 

The lives of these monks were, and still are, scandalous 
in the extreme. Far removed from the control of their 
superiors, they gave themselves up entirely to the gratifi- 
cation of their passions, regardless of the scandal and 
bad example which they were showing to Mahometans, 
Jews, and other infidels, for whose instruction they were 
sent thither. Their whole care was in amassing money; 
not knowing the day they would be recalled to Spain, or 
Italy, by their different superiors, they made an unhal- 
lowed gain of the things of the holy sepulchre ; which, 
by the way, is rendered cursed and polluted by them — if, 
indeed, the precise spot in which the body of our Saviour 
was deposited, be known at all ; — they practised their 
impositions on the unfortunate pilgrims, whom the demon 
of superstition leads to visit that city, in hopes of obtain- 
ing some temporal or spiritual benefit ; and spend, either 
on the spot, in carousals, or something worse, or hoard 
up to spend, with more refinement, on their return to 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 257 

their own countries, the money gained from- such imposi- 
tions. With these demons, in the dress of monks, had 
Gondolfi to combat, and restrain. He had before some 
knowledge of the scandalous lives they led, but had no 
idea of their being so monstrously wicked as he found 
them. He began by obliging them to preach daily to the 
pilgrims — a custom long since forgotten by them — by 
keeping them more within doors, and by prohibiting 
the sale of those things to which popular superstition, 
excited by priestcraft, had attributed some imaginary 
value. He preached himself constantly, and his theme 
was — not the value of relics, the virtue of pilgrimages, 
the power of the priests — but the death of Christ, by 
which all men were freed from sin ; a subject to which 
the place itself added redoubled force. In the mean 
time, the monks, enraged at having a stop put to their 
nefarious practices, and feeling the loss accruing from the 
prohibition of the sale of their fictitious relics of Christ, 
consulted with one another, and concluded, that the only 
way they had of recovering their lost privileges, was to 
endeavour to bring about the disgrace of their persecutor, 
Gondolfi. With this intent, they immediately despatched 
a letter to Rome, signed by all, as a body, wherein they 
accused Gondolfi of heresy, and of a wish to subvert the 
Roman Catholic religion in Jerusalem ; they added, that 
he openly despised the holy places, and exhorted the 
pilgrims, who came to visit them through devotion, not 
to place any trust, or put confidence in the various 
objects of devotion which were pointed out to them by 
the monks, and to each of which were attached indul- 
gences, granted by the supreme pontiff, to those pilgrims 
who devoutly worship them, and leave a sum of money 
for their better keeping. The latter part of their accusa- 
tion had some foundation in truth ; perhaps, indeed, the 
accusation was wholly true, though Gondolfi did not 
manifest immediately the design already formed, of un- 
dermining the pope's authority in the Holy Land : he 
however showed an open indifference for the sacred 
places, and hardly had the curiosity of a common traveller 
in examining them ; being unwilling, no doubt, to give 

23* 



258 SIX YEARS IN THE 

in his own person an example of devotion to things 
which he considered, in themselves, as neither bad nor 
good, but perverted into the former by those who wished 
to make them the means of deceiving others, and of sup- 
plying themselves with all the luxuries possible to be 
found in the luxurious country they were living in. 

After remaining about two months in Jerusalem, dur- 
ing which time he laboured with the greatest diligence in 
bringing about the reform of the monks, and in endeavour- 
ing to keep them within the bounds of common decency, 
though at the greatest peril of his life ; being obliged 
through fear of being poisoned — a no unfrequent practice 
with monks against those who endeavour to Christianize 
them — to be cautious of using any food, unless that pur- 
chased and prepared by his own servant ; he removed to 
the Maronite convent of Cannubin, where the patriarch 
resided, and was received by him with those marks of 
honour and respect, usually bestowed upon one of his 
high clerical dignity, and on the office he held, as delegate 
from the church of Rome. He here had to commence 
his labours anew, for though he did not find the Maronite 
clergy so shamefully wicked as he had found the western 
monks in Jerusalem, he yet found them sunk into the most 
degraded state of ignorance and superstition, some priests 
being scarcely able to read the missal, not to say, under- 
stand it, while others were unacquainted with the first 
principles of Christianity. They had made extensive 
additions to the fictitious helps to salvation, which they 
were taught by those of their body who studied at Rome. 
Their whole religion consisted in a reiteration of Synac 
prayers, which they did not understand, in prayers and 
adorations of images and relics, and in fasting and abstain- 
ing from certain meats during a great part of the year. 
Those of the secular clergy who were married (for the 
pope, not being able to prevent, granted them the privilege 
of having wives) were usually employed in some handi- 
craft trade, endeavouring to earn a subsistence for their 
families ; totally neglectful of every thing appertaining to 
the duty of a clergyman. In fine, according to his own 
words, expressed to a Protestant missionary, with whom 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 259 

he formed an acquaintance, " he found more religion, 
and a juster notion of the worship of God, among their 
neighbours the Druses, who are supposed to be semi- 
Mahometan and semi-heathen, than among the Maronite 
clergy, who are called Christians." If then so deplora- 
ble be the state of the clergy, what must that of the 
people be ? Some of the people were not entirely so 
fallen as the generality of their priests, thanks to the 
labours of the Protestant missionaries among them, and 
to the distribution of copies of the Scriptures, or detached 
portions of the New Testament, especially the gospels, 
made by them. Such of the people as were able to read, 
and received these books, were Christians in some sense, 
and a great many of them were even pious and devoted 
ones ; but then they rendered themselves objects of per- 
secution to their fanatical neighbours, and to the ignorant 
priests, who supposed that no Christianity could possibly 
exist without crossings, holy water, images, relics, and 
such like mummery. The missionaries attempted to es- 
tablish schools for the instruction of their children, but 
without effect; those who saw the benefits likely to 
accrue to their offspring from education feared the priests, 
if they should send them to the missionary schools ; and 
those who could not understand these advantages detest- 
ed the missionaries too much, and therefore would as 
soon see their children Mahometans, as their scholars. 

Such was the state of the Maronite people and clergy 
at the time of Monsignor Gondolfi's arrival among them. 
His first care was to endeavour to instruct the clergy, 
and to have regular sermons preached to the people. 
He then endeavoured to lessen their respect for the 
objects of their superstitious worship, and to increase it 
for Christ and his gospel ; or rather to create a reliance 
on the latter, with which they were entirely unacquainted. 
When asked by the Maronite patriarch, whether the priests 
and the people had acted right in refusing the heretical 
books (so they called the Scriptures) which were offered 
them by Protestant missionaries, he used no subterfuge, 
but answered plainly " they had not." He endeavoured 
to explain to them the benefits arising from a knowledge 



260 SIX YEARS IN THE 

of the sacred writings, and the inefficacy of all other things 
to obtain salvation, unassisted by the revealed word. By 
these and such like discourses, he showed himself a 
Bible Christian, and favourer of the reformed religion. 
Nor did he escape the notice of the Maronite priests, 
ignorant as they were, and especially of those who had 
acquired some comparative degree of information by study- 
ing at Rome. These excited the patriarch and their other 
brethren against him, so that, in less than nine months, 
his virtues and efforts to serve them made him as hateful 
to the Maronites as the like qualities had before rendered 
him to the Jerusalem monks. Conscious, however, of his 
own pious intentions, and of the goodness of the cause in 
which he had embarked, he still persevered, and opposed 
to their insults and even attempts to take his life, in which 
they, at last, succeeded, nothing but mildness and firm- 
ness. Many letters were written to the court of Rome 
against him by the patriarch and his monks, accusing him 
of heresy, and of endeavouring to withdraw the Syrian 
Catholics from their obedience to Rome. He had long 
since received letters from the Propaganda peremptorily 
ordering his return, but these he thought proper to treat 
with that neglect which they deserved. He was then 
formally degraded from his office and excommunicated, 
notification of such proceedings being immediately trans- 
mitted to the Maronite patriarch, who forthwith expelled 
him from the convent. After his expulsion, he still con- 
tinued his labours among them, and had collected together 
a small church, which he daily and indefatigably instructed 
in the leading points of Christianity, unmixed with the 
dross of Romish inventions, and had already acquired the 
respect and esteem of all good men, when he was dis- 
turbed from this sphere of usefulness by the arrival of his 
successor in the delegacy, a bigoted fanatic, than whom 
Rome could not have chosen a more fitting person to carry 
into execution her schemes of impositions. 

Unlike Gondolfi, this worthless individual, whose name 
I do not know, began his mission by flattering the patri- 
arch and monks in their evil practices and superstitious 
worship : he overturned all the improvements made by 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 261 

the former, and soon brought them back to the wretched 
state in which he had found them. Bibles were sought 
for and destroyed by thousands, and all those who listened 
to the sermons or went to the schools of either Gondolfi 
or the Protestant missionaries were ipso facto excommu- 
nicated. Gondolfi, finding his influence among the people 
decreasing, and seeing the inutility of his efforts to resist 
the tide of corruption, resolved upon leaving a place 
where the opposition to improvement was so vigorous. 
But nothing else than his death could satisfy popish ran- 
cour. Some days before the time appointed for removing 
to Alexandria, where he hoped to obtain a passage to 
Marseilles, and thence to Switzerland, he was found dead 
in his bed, having been poisoned at the house of a Maro- 
nite priest, who pretended friendship for him, and with 
whom he spent the evening previous to his death. The 
effect of the poison administered to him (in a cup of coffee, 
it is supposed, and with reason too, it being the eastern 
custom to present a pipe and coffee to visiters) was not 
instantaneous : he had time to return to his own house, 
and retire to bed, before he felt the least symptoms of 
indisposition, from which he never arose, being found, as 
already related, dead in the morning. His body was 
swollen to a monstrous bulk, and left unburied for more 
than thirty-six hours, a very long time in that warm 
climate. It was at last buried by the Druses ; the Maro- 
nites, who gave out that his death was caused by the 
visitation of God for his heresy and schism, being unwill- 
ing to pollute themselves with the touch of the body of 
an excommunicated person, and of one who died under 
the censure of the holy Roman Catholic church. They 
brought his death forward in their sermons as an exam- 
ple of the way in which God punishes, even in this world, 
those who make themselves heresiarchs, and dissemina- 
tors of heresy, and attributed it entirely to the vengeance 
of God, and never to the true cause, which they well knew 
— the vengeance of the church of Rome. 

Thus died Monsignor Gondolfi, a man of superior 
talents, learning, and piety, and who, had his lot been cast 
among any other portion of the Christian community than 



262 SIX YEARS IN THE 

in that of the intolerant and almost heathenish one of 
popery, would have shone forth as a brilliant light among 
the people of God, and contributed by his labours and 
example to the increase of God's kingdom, and edification 
of God's people. He may serve as an example of a pious 
man, preferring the service of Jesus Christ to worldly 
honours and riches, and labouring at the hazard of his 
life, in dissipating the clouds of darkness (and with a cer- 
tainty of irretrievably destroying his temporal prospects) 
in which the minds of Christians were enveloped by the 
worldly policy and soul-destroying superstitions of the 
church, of which he was a dignitary. By the manner of 
his death may be exemplified the ways made use of by 
modern popery in stopping the mouths of those whose 
consciences excite them to speak against and expose her 
abuses and impositions, and of her little regard for the 
heinousness of the means, so that they bring about the 
desired end. Probably, the miserable man who adminis- 
tered the poison to his guest, Gondolfi, was armed before- 
hand with a brief from the pope, by which he was granted 
indulgences for the commission of the crime, which, so 
far from considering in that light, he considered a meri- 
torious act, and one worthy of eternal reward. It may 
be asked whether the Turkish government had not taken 
notice of the sudden death of so notable a character, and 
examined into the cause of it ? To those acquainted with 
the distracted state of Turkey, it is needless to say that 
violent deaths are so numerous, that they are looked upon 
as every-day occurrences, and are hardly taken notice of 
by the government ; but when they are, it is more for the 
purpose of extorting money from the innocent, than of 
bringing the murderers to justice. If then the govern- 
ment had examined at all into the circumstances attending 
Gondolfi's death, popish gold could have very easily 
screened the murderer from Mahometan justice : a few 
purses to the Turkish magistrate, and all is hushed. Let 
this answer satisfy those also, who are not acquainted 
with Turkish customs. 

Indulgences are also granted for sins not yet committed, 
but which the purchaser of them intends to commit 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 263 

within a given time. These are called " indulgenze 
secrete" or secret indulgences, by the Italians, and are 
not sold openly ; the principle being too glaringly mon- 
strous, even in the opinion of those who practise upon it, 
to meet the face of day. They are, nevertheless, obtained 
by making application to any one of 'the penitentiaries* 
of St. Peter's, and as he may judge the reasons assigned 
for the necessity of committing such and such sins to be 
satisfactory or otherwise, they are granted or withheld 
accordingly, though the former is more frequently the 
case. If the sin bargained for be of individual advantage 
to the person about to commit it, the price charged is 
most enormous, and exceeds the abilities of the poor, 
who, therefore, are, through want of money, obliged to 
commit it first, and get absolved, a bon marche\ after- 
ward ; but if it be for the general advantage of the Romish 
church, then the penitentiary endeavours to obtain for the 
penitent the indulgence, or leave to commit it gratis; 
exhorting him at the same time to be diligent in perform 
ing his duty toward the church, and in consulting for her 
welfare, and finishing his pious exhortation with a Latin 
quotation from some old schoolman, which, to give it 
greater weight, he fathers upon Augustine, Ambrose, or 
some other saint of great name, as : " No one can have 
God for a father, who has not the church for a mother." 
" Nemo potest habere Deumpro patre, qui ecclesiam non 
habet pro matre" Stus. Aug. de Infall. sum. pon. lib. 
100, cap. 1000, sec. 47, torn. 600, fol. edi. Rom. &c. &c. 
He adds the name of the author, page, volume, &c, in 
order to increase the admiration and stupor of his unfor- 
tunate penitent. 

* Penitentiaries in the church of Rome are of two kinds ; the 
first, and those to whom allusion is made above, is composed of certain 
priests, mostly Franciscan friars, vested by the pope with the power 
of absolving certain cases reserved to himself. These hold their 
stalls or confession boxes in the church of St. Peter's at Rome, and 
to them application must be first made, in order to obtain the secret 
bulls. Having obtained a written order from these, the indulgence 
buyer delivers it to those of the second kind, who have the immediate 
direction of the bulls, and who receive the money for them. What 
an unholy traffic ! — but such is popery. 



264 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Secret indulgences are seldom granted, as far as I could 
learn, for the commission of murder, robbery, &c, in 
cases of individuals : they are chiefly confined to the 
liberty of cheating, without sin, each other in their com 
mercial pursuits, in forming marriage connexions within 
the forbidden degrees of kindred ; so that a man may 
marry his grandmother, if he be rich enough to purchase 
an indulgence (in cases of this kind, called dispensations) 
for so doing, in keeping a mistress, in procuring abortion, 
and other things of this nature. No special indulgence 
is required for acting in any way, however sinful, by 
which people called heretics might be injured in their 
persons, property or character : nay, those who do not 
act so fall under the censure of the church ; for a general 
indulgence has been granted by more than one pope, for 
the suppression of heresy and extirpation of heretics, and 
all who keep faith with them are, ipso facto, excom 
municated, and become partakers of their alleged guilt, 
and liable to the same punishments. We learn from 
history, that secret indulgences have been often granted 
for the assassination of heretical kings, of disseminators 
of heresy, or of any others, who may have rendered 
themselves, by their writings or influence, hateful to the 
church of Rome in general, or to its head the pope in 
particular. The infamous Alexander VI.* was accus- 

* Of all the monsters — and they were many — that ever sat upon 
the papal throne, none ever came up to Alexander VI. in impiety, 
cruelty, and avarice. He was born in Valencia, Spain. His family 
was that of Borgia, and he himself was called Theodoric Borgia 
before his election to the popedom. While yet a young man, and a 
cardinal, to which dignity he was exalted by his uncle, Calistus III., 
though some say that he was the latter pope's bastard — he lived 
publicly in concubinage with a Roman lady of great beauty, by whom 
he had three children — two sons and one daughter. After his elec- 
tion to the popedom, in 1492., he spared neither blood nor conscience 
in enriching these his bastards. He was the moving cause of all the 
wars and disturbances that harassed Europe during that period, and 
seems, notwithstanding his papal dignity, to have been held in utter 
abomination, both by his own subjects, and by the other nations of 
Europe. His eldest son Csesar, whom he made a cardinal at an early 
age, and whom he afterward absolved from his vow of chastity, in 
order to marry him to the daughter of the Duke of Ferrara ; this 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 265 

tomed to grant indulgences under his own hand and seal, 
to the assassins hired by him for the purpose of waylay- 
ing and murdering the princes or other men of rank, who 
fell under his displeasure on account of opposing him in 
his unholy designs ; or for whose riches he had a gaping 
desire, in order to enrich his bastard children, Caesar 
Borgia, and brother and sister. Many other instances 
might be given of indulgences being granted for doing 
away with, either the personal enemies of popes, or 
the enemies of their doctrines. The foregoing one of 
Alexander VI. is so well authenticated, that popish his- 

same Caesar murdered his younger brother, through jealousy of his 
being higher in the affections of their common sister, whose favours, 
without having any regard to the ties of consanguinity, they both 
equally shared — children truly worthy of such a father ! The day 
of retribution at length came. At a dinner prepared for the express 
purpose of poisoning some of the cardinals and Roman senators, 
whose property he coveted, or whose dignities he wanted to sell to 
the highest bidder, the poisoned wine was, by mistake, served up to 
himself and his son Caesar ; and thus, by the just judgment of God, 
he fell into the pit he had made for the destruction of others. The 
poison had a fatal effect on the pope, and put an end — an event so 
anxiously wished for — to his career of crime and impiety : his hopeful 
son, Caesar, recovered from its effects by having quick recourse to an 
antidote, which he always carried about him, being, no doubt, con- 
scious of the provocation his crimes gave many to attempt his life. 
After his father's death, he retired to his castle at Ferrara, of which 
town he was before made duke, where he maintained a siege of some 
months against an army sent by his father's successor against him. 
He was forced to flee from Italy in the end, and having been reduced 
to great poverty, he, some few years after, was found dead in a ditch, 
not without well grounded suspicions of having accelerated his own 
end. The following epitaph, written by a popish priest of that period, 
will give the reader some idea of the detestation in which this impious 
pope was held by all classes — laical and clerical : 

Ssevitiae, insidiae, rabies, furor, ira, libido 
Sanguinis et diri spongia, dira sitis ; 
Sextus Alexander jaceo hie, jam libera gaude 
Roma : tibi quoniam mors mea vita f uit. 

" Here I, (the unhappy man himself is made the narrator of his 
own infamy,) Alexander VI. lie : cruelty, treachery, fury, madness, 
anger, and lust, lie here : a sponge steeped in blood and horror, for 
which my thirst was insatiable. Now, Rome, rejoice in thy liberty, 
for my death is thy life." 

24 



266 SIX YEARS IN THE 

torians themselves, being unable to pass it over, have 
been obliged to make mention of it ; yet some of them 
endeavour to excuse it by a fine-drawn distinction between 
"the pope as a man, and the same as vicar of Christ 
and head of the church." Bernini in his "Storiadi 
tutta Veresia," a book written expressly for upholding 
the papal authority, mentions it, but attempts to get over 
it in the above way. But it may be asked both of Bernini 
and others, by what authority is such a monstrous doc- 
trine supported at all ? Not, certainly, by that of revela- 
tion. Besides, if such a doctrine did not exist, the evil- 
minded popes could not use it for the gratification of their 
bloodthirsty propensities, and of their avarice. Why 
not then do away with it altogether, and for once shame 
the d — 1 by telling the truth, and confessing, that the 
church and pope too had erred in assuming, without 
authority, so monstrous a doctrine, and so dreadful in its 
consequences, as a part of the religion of Christ. But 
this would be an act of honesty, for which no one ac- 
quainted with the church of Rome can ever suspect her; 
and she therefore continues heaping one error upon 
another, and making the latter the support of the former, 
till she has arrived at her present state of corruption, as 
to have nothing of the religion of Christ about her but the 
npe — so difficult it is to support a lie without calling in 
other lies to its assistance ; to support the erroneous doc- 
trine of infallibility without the prop of other doctrines 
equally erroneous. " An ounce of honesty is better than 
a pound of policy," is an old saying, and had the church 
of Rome practised upon it, or even given ear to the moral 
precept, " Hominis est errare, bestiae autem in erroribus 
permanere ;" "Men are liable to err, but none but beasts 
persevere in their errors;" had she, on her first falling 
into error, confessed it and made reparation for it, instead 
of endeavouring to support it, she would not be to-day 
so bestial a church, and the stone of scandal and rock 
of offence to the whole Christian world. As to the 
wire-drawn distinction between the official and indi- 
vidual character of Alexander VI., by which papicolists 
endeavour to cast his crimes from the pope to the man, I 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 26" 

would gladly learn, when Alexander VI. went to visit 
his infernal majesty in his nether dominions, as a man, 
(and it is no uncharitableness to say that he has, if there 
be — and I have no doubt of it — a place of future rewards 
and punishments,) what then became of the same, as a 
pope ?* 

The massacre of St. Bartholomew is another instance, 
though on a larger scale, of indulgences being granted 
for the destruction of those whom the church of Rome 
honours with the name of heretics. Indulgences were 
granted beforehand for the perpetration of that horrid 
massacre, as is evident from the little surprise, but ex- 
ceedingly great joy exhibited by the court of Rome upon 
receiving the news. It was a thing expected ; the plot 
having been laid at Rome, and the necessary indulgences 
granted, before its execution at Paris and other parts of 
France. Most probably there was a plenary indulgence, 
and the freedom of some hundreds of souls from purga- 
tory, for every unfortunate Huguenot sacrificed that day 
to popish intolerance. A solemn Te Deum was sung at 
St. Peter's, and a public thanksgiving ordered through 
every church, acknowledging at its head the purpled 
monster, who sanctioned, and even encouraged, so hellish 
a carnage. 

One instance more, and I have done. Fra Paolo, 
author of the history of the council of Trent, was sus- 
pected of heresy. He retired to his native city, Venice, 
and was protected by that republic, which felt honoured 

* It would seem from the following anecdote that these metaphysi- 
cal distinctions are not made in favour of popes alone, but sometimes 
also in favour of less dignified churchmen. A German peasant see- 
ing the Archbishop of Magdeburg, of indulgence-selling memory, who 
was also Elector of Mentz, passing by, surrounded by his guards, and 
dressed in a military uniform, he burst out into an immoderate fit of 
laughter, which attracted the notice of the archbishop. Upon being 
asked the reason of his merriment, he replied, " Because I see your 
grace, a churchman, dressed as a soldier." " But don't you know," 
said his grace, " that I am an elector of the empire, as well as an 
archbishop ?" " Yes," answered the peasant ; " but I would like to 
know, when your highness, the elector, goes to the d— 1, where will 
your grace, the archbishop, go?" 



268 SIX YEARS IN THE 

in having so learned a man one of its citizens. The 
court of Rome, however, could not rest satisfied without 
his death. One of the professional spadacini, or assas- 
sins, who abounded in Rome at that time, (sixteenth 
century) — nor are they very scarce even at this day — one 
of these was hired by the pope and cardinals, and de- 
spatched to Venice for the purpose of assassinating Fra 
Paolo ; being fortified beforehand with an indulgence, 
and promised a large sum of money, in case of success. 
He had remained some time at Venice before a favourable 
opportunity presented of executing his commission ; so 
cautiously did Fra Paolo, who knew the spirit of the 
Romish church, keep himself on his guard against her 
machinations. One morning, however, very early, as 
he was going to the house of a Venetian nobleman to 
assist at the last moments of one of the family, he was 
watched by the pope's emissary, who went up to him to 
kiss his hand, which is a manner of showing respect to a 
priest, common in Italy, and being put off his guard by 
that act of respect, received the assassin's dagger in his 
side. Some people, coming accidentally that way, and 
seeing what occurred, pursued the wretch, who imme- 
diately fled, leaving the dagger in the wound. He was 
apprehended, and confessed the whole plot, and who 
were his employers, upon condition of his life being 
spared. The court of Rome flatly denied having given 
any such commission to any one ; thus adding lying to 
treachery, as is its custom. Fra Paolo, however, recover- 
ed of his wound, and kept the dagger, on which he got 
inscribed the words "Stiletto della chiesa Romana, per 
Fra Paolo" (the dagger of the Roman church for Fra 
Paolo,) as a precious relic, hung up in his bed-room during 
the remainder of his life. The same dagger is still pre- 
served in one of the Protestant cities of Germany, I forget 
which, a lasting memorial of popish treachery, and of the 
murderous use to which the pope converts his assumed 
power of granting indulgences. 

Every bishop, in his own diocess, has also the power 
of granting secret indulgences to those of his flock that 
can purchase them. The same power, with which the 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 269 

pope has vested the penitentiaries of St. Peter's, he can 
also bestow upon one or two priests of his cathedral. 
These, like their brethren at St. Peter's, can grant indul- 
gences for minor sins, that is, minor, when compared 
with murder, robbery, &c. But not only are indulgences 
granted for the use and benefit of the living purchasers ; 
but also the same purchasers while in health provide 
themselves with indulgences, and absolutions of their 
crimes, sins, and offences, signed, sealed, and delivered, 
and which are buried with them when they die. These 
documents are written in Latin ; and serve as a passport 
to heaven — a sure sign, according to the opinion of the 
church of Rome — an infallible authority in cases of this 
nature — that the gens d'armes, and other police officers 
of the other world, understand Latin ; otherwise how 
would they be able to know, whether the bearers of them 
have their passports en regie ? as the French police say. 
The question was for some time disputed on in the 
schools of theology, " Whether the d — 1's police under- 
stand Latin, or not ?" for that God's police have a know- 
ledge of that language, no one would be impious enough 
to doubt. After many orations and learned discourses on 
the different sides of the question, it was at last decided 
in the negative, and the reason given was, that God 
would not allow a knowledge of that language to his 
enemies, in which the most acceptable sacrifice — that of 
the mass — was daily offered up to him. It was objected 
by the opposite side, that if the d — Is had not a know- 
ledge of Latin, many souls armed with pontifical bulls 
and indulgences might be impeded in their flight to 
heaven, by being stopped on the road by those who 
could not understand their documents ; but this objection 
was done away with by bringing under consideration the 
fact of such bulls and indulgences being always fortified 
with the pope's seal, and that though the officers of Satan 
could not make use of their understanding, yet they 
could of their eyes, and respect accordingly a document 
bearing the seal of Christ's vicar on earth, though its 
contents be unknown to them ; being well aware (sagely 
add the theologians) that he (the pope) would never put, 

24* 



270 SIX YEARS IN THE 

or cause to be put, his seal, unless upon things which 
cannot be otherwise than agreeable to the Divine Majesty! 
So much for theological disputations. It may perhaps 
be suspected, that the foregoing question never existed, 
or never was disputed upon but by myself. Those, who 
think so, have a very erroneous idea of popish schools 
of theology. Not only has the above question engaged 
the attention of grave theologians, but thousands of such 
questions, much more absurd and ridiculous if possible, 
are daily discussed by the theological students of the 
church of Rome. By such questions as these, is the 
young mind of the student drawn away from meditating 
upon the great truths of Christianity, and fixed upon the 
peculiar doctrines of popery. By seeing those minutiae 
so warmly defended, he, by degrees, learns to consider 
them as things of importance, and very soon lets go the 
substance — Christianity itself — and grasps at the shadow 
— the ravings of theologians, and the inventions of popes 
and cardinals. But enough of indulgences. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Departure from Rome — Refused permission to return to Ireland- 
Plan of cpcaDe — How executed — Arrival at Marseilles and Lyons 
— Geneva — Monsieur Cheneviere — Socinianism — English travel- 
lers on the continent of Europe — Rabbi M s, the converted Jew 

— His perfidy — Arrival in London — Treatment received from false 
and perfidious friends. 

Having in the foregoing chapters given an account of 
the domestic life of monks, interspersed with remarks 
upon some of the leading doctrines of the Romish church, 
I shall now proceed to relate the manner in which, through 
God's mercy, I became emancipated from the galling 
yoke of monachism, and its disgusting practices. The 
manners and customs of the popish Clergy of Malta, 
Smyrna, and the Ionian islands, will also form the sub- 
jects of some following chapters. The various stages 
of adverse fortune, through which I passed before arriv- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC 271 

mg in America, may lead the reader to form a just notion 
of the difficulties, which those, who belonged to the 
Romish clergy, and whose consciences obliged them to 
separate from it, have to encounter, partly from the per- 
secutions of their quondam co-religionists, and partly 
from the lukewarmness of those, who call themselves 
" friends of the gospel." How far the latter deserve that 
name, may be seen from the manner I myself have been 
treated by such gentry. 

The seventh year of my monkish life was now com- 
mencing, and I had already passed through the different 
studies required, before being sent as a missionary to my 
own country, (Ireland,) when, unable to bear any longer 
the mask of hypocrisy, which self-preservation obliged 
me to wear, I resolved upon leaving Rome, and the Ro- 
man states, and seek a refuge in some country, where I 
would not be forced by circumstances to appear what 
I really was not — a servile adherent to pope and popery. 
I was, at this time, I must confess, a confirmed infidel, 
and a scoffer at Christianity, under whatever form it might 
appear. It was not then through any love for Protestant- 
ism, that I was so desirous to make my escape from 
popish thraldom. I was convinced, that Christianity 
was, on the whole, a fable, and the invention of self- 
interested men, who make use of it to domineer with 
greater ease over their less cunning, or less fortunate 
fellow creatures. I had not, at this time, the least notion* 
that the Christianity with which I was acquainted in the 
church of Rome, and the pure genuine Christianity, es- 
tablished by its divine Author, were as different as one 
thing could possibly be from another ; the former carry- 
ing imprinted upon it the work and handicraft of man, 
while the latter could not proceed from any other source 
less pure than the inspiration of the Deity. I was unable* 
so incredulous and skeptical had I become by the abomi- 
nations of monkery, to see any benefit that a firm belief 
in the blessed doctrine of atonement through the blood 
of Chris£ could bring to man. The doctrine itself, I was 
acquainted with, but the way of applying it to heal 

t 



872 SIX YEARS IN THE 

the wounded spirit, or the broken heart, I was wholly 
ignorant of. 

My health being really very bad, it required very little 
simulation, on my part, to persuade the convent physi- 
cian to grant me a paper, by which he gave it as his 
professional opinion, "that an immediate removal to my 
native air was absolutely necessary for the restoration of 
my health." The disturbed state of my mind, weighed 
down by skepticism, and a consciousness of living in 
direct variance with my better judgment, had a sensible 
effect on my bodily strength. I was fast falling into a 
decline, and had I remained one year, nay, a few months 
longer in the monkish habit, it is more than probable, 
that I would not be now alive to relate the abominations 
of monkery. Armed with the physician's certificate, 
which was itself confirmed Ixy my sickly appearance, I 
sought the general of the oroer, and requested his per- 
mission to return to Ireland, without waiting until I 
would reach the age appointed by the canons for receiv- 
ing the order of priesthood. I had already, as before 
mentioned, received the other six orders, and, indeed, 
had no ambition to be dubbed a priest, that is, to be 
gifted with the hocus pocus art of making my God. So 
far from the desire of being priested having had any share 
in my thoughts, I dreaded the arrival of the moment, 
when I would be obliged, nolens volens, to receive priests' 
orders. The general, however, refused to give me the 
required permission. The only thing I could obtain from 
him, was leave to go for a few months to Pisa, or Leg- 
horn. Fearing that I might take his refusal too much 
to heart, he promised me, at the same time, that he him- 
self would use his influence with the pope, in order to 
obtain for me a dispensation of eighteen months, by which 
I could be ordained priest at the age of twenty-two years 
and a half ; a favour seldom granted by his holiness, unless 
to those, who are backed by powerful interest, and able 
to pay well for it. 

Finding that prayers and entreaties availed^me little 
with the general, and that I had very little chance of 
efl^cting my escape, if I remained at Rome, I decided 



• MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 273 

upon making use of his permission to go to Leghorn, 
and trust to some favourable opportunity to put myself 
out of the reach of monkish jurisdiction. * My hopes 
were chiefly founded upon the probability of falling in 
with at Leghorn, some English vessel, that might aid me 
in my preconceived plan of flight. Upon my arrival in 
that city, my first care was to make acquaintance with 
the English consul. Fearing, however, that he might 
betray my intentions, I was very cautious at first in giv- 
ing him a knowledge of my designs ; but finding, after 
an acquaintance of some weeks, that he detested monkery 
and priestcraft as much as they deserved, I opened my- 
self to him without reserve. He very honestly advised 
me to ponder well upon the probable consequences before 
I went too far to recede. He laid open the difficulties I 
might have to encounter, in order to maintain my rank in 
society, if I should divest myself of my profession ; and 
brought before my eyes the lukewarmness of those, who 
call themselves the friends of gospel freedom. " If, how- 
ever," said he, " you are determined at all hazards to 
shake off the yoke of monachism, I shall not be back- 
ward in affording you every assistance in my power." 
Having received some weeks before, a remittance of 
money from my father, (the last I have ever received 
from him,) my pecuniary resources were in a state to 
defray the expenses of a journey to Switzerland — »the 
nearest land of freedom, and therefore the place I made 
up my mind to go to, in the event of succeeding in my 
designs. I intrusted part of this money to the consul, in 
order that he might purchase secular clothes for me. To 
avoid all suspicion, a young man, clerk in the consul's 
office, presented himself to the tailor in my place ; which 
young man being about my size and stature, the clothes 
that would fit him would also fit me. 

Nothing was now wanting for the immediate execution 
of my plans, but the falling in with some vessel that 
would take me aboard and land me at Marseilles, without 
requirin^the necessary papers from the civil authorities 
at Leghorn. It was useless to expect that any Tuscan, 
or Italian shipmaster would run the risk ; my whole 



274 SIX YEARS IN THE # 

dependence then was upon meeting with some English 
or French vessel, about to sail for the above port. The 
former luckily presented after some weeks anxious ex- 
pectation on my part. An English brig, having taken in 
part of her cargo at Leghorn, had to touch at Marseilles 
to take in the remainder. The consul introduced me to 
her captain, who readily consented to take me aboard, 
and land me at Marseilles. The latter positively refused, 
at the same time, to receive any compensation for his 
trouble ; observing, " that he deemed it a sufficient 
reward, if he could be the means of rescuing a fellow 
countryman from slavery." All things being in readiness 
for my flight, I accompanied the captain in his own boat 
aboard, under pretext of seeing him put to sea; his ship 
being already outside the harbour's mouth, and only 
waiting his coming aboard to set sail. The moment, then, 
that I placed my foot on the deck, I pronounced myself 
free, and out of the grasp of monkish tyranny. Indeed, 
it would require the exercise of all the miraculous power 
to which monks lay claim, to get me again within their 
clutches. 

One thing, however, happened very unfortunately, and 
was wellnigh frustrating the whole plan. The secular 
clothes, which were prepared for me, were left ashore at 
Leghorn, either through design or accident — I do not 
know which. I attribute it, however, to the treachery 
of the person, to whom the consul intrusted them, in 
order to carry them aboard ; and by no means to the 
consul himself. The latter had kindly provided me with 
an English passport, whereby I was described as a British 
subject, on a travelling excursion. This was sufficient to 
excite the suspicion of the French authorities ; and had I 
arrived in France in a monkish habit, some fifty years 
earlier, that is, had I arrived there a few years before the 
first French revolution, I would have learned to my cost, 
that Italy was not the only country in the world, wherein 
monks are imprisoned for attempting to throw off the 
yoke of monachism. But France had — luckily enough for 
me — emancipated herself from priestcraft and monkery, 
long before my arrival ; and I therefore experienced no 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 275 

greater difficulty from being habited as a monk, than what 
proceeded from being stared at, and laughed at, on ac- 
count of my (to them) unusual and uncouth dress. 

After a few weeks' stay at Marseilles, during which I 
was pestered with invitations from the popish bishop to 
call upon him at his palace, and which invitations I took 
the liberty to neglect, I set out for Lyons, still dressed 
in the monastic habit : indeed, finding that this dress did 
not expose me to any danger in France, I resolved not to 
lay it aside until I arrived in Switzerland. At Lyons, I 
obtained from some Protestant clergyman, with whom 
I became ^acquainted, letters of introduction to many of 
the Swiss clergy. Having spent a few days in that city, 
I departed for Geneva — the cradle of continental Protest- 
antism, and the seat of the arts and sciences. My letters 
of introduction were then of use to me. Through them, 
I soon made the acquaintance of the greater part of the 
Geneva clergy ; and among others, of Messieurs Malan 
and Cheneviere. To the latter, more especially, I am 
indebted for many favours. He is professor of theology 
in the university of Geneva ; and though a Socinian in 
his religious opinions, yet a truly just and upright man. 

Monsieur Cheneviere was the only true and sincere 
friend that I met with at Geneva. His views on religious 
matters, I do not by any means approve at this time, 
though when at Geneva, I entered into them with the 
greatest ardour ; not that I liked Socinianism for its own 
sake, but rather because it approached nearer to my own 
system of natural religion, into which I had been hurled 
through disgust of popish superstitions. Were we to 
judge of the truth or falsehood of a religion from the 
lives of its professors, Socinianism, judging it from the 
lives of some of its professors at Geneva, and more 
especially from the life of Cheneviere, would be found a 
much safer religion, and much more in accordance with 
the gospel precepts, than a truly evangelical Christianity, 
when judged by the lives of some of those who, making 
themselves champions for the truth, "as it is in Jesus,'* 
take very little care to practise any of the doctrines and 
precepts of Jesus. However that may be, one thing I am 



276 SIX YEARS IN THE 

convinced of is this, " that if the divinity of the Foundei 
of Christianity is not an essential article of a Christian's 
belief, neither then is Christianity itself necessary to his 
salvation." If Christ be not God — a title he has given 
to himself — he must then be a liar, and the greatest mon- 
ster that ever appeared in this world ! If those misguided 
men, who deny the divinity of the Saviour, were but for 
one moment to reflect upon the awful consequences de- 
ducible from that denial, they would certainly feel as 
much shocked, as I myself have felt while writing the 
foregoing sentence ; and humbly cry out with Thomas, 
" My Lord and my God." Let us hope, however, that 
the fault of the greater number of those, who deny the 
divinity of Christ, is to be attributed more to the under- 
standing than to the will ; and that He, whose power and 
divinity they deny, will in his own good time convince 
them of both by changing their hearts, and thereby make 
them fit for the reception of so great a truth — a truth of 
such essential importance, that it has been justly called 
" the foundation stone, on which are built the other truths 
of the Christian religion." 

I have been led into the foregoing digression by the 
name of Mr. Cheneviere, a man from whom I have 
received much kindness, and whom I esteem for his 
moral virtues, though I cannot esteem him for the more 
important virtues which religion can produce. I am 
very sure, however, that he was a Socinian, and remain- 
ed so, not through any worldly motive, but because he 
was fully convinced of the truth of that religion. To 
sum up his character in a few words, it may be truly 
said of him, " that as a natural-minded man, he was little 
below an angel ; but as a theoretical Christian, alas ! he 
was on the road to destruction." If, however, his natural 
disposition, unassisted by divine illumination, could lead 
him to be a philanthropist, what would he not become, 
were the clouds in which his mind was enveloped, dissi- 
pated, and he could be brought to see and acknowledge 
the atoning love of a divine Saviour ? 

I had not been many days at Geneva, before I divested 
myself of the mark of the " beast " or of one of them, 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 277 

at least ; — I mean, the monkish habit, which I had the 
gratification of burning. This was the last remnant of 
popery of which I was in possession, having consigned 
to the deep some time before, while on the passage to 
Marseilles, beads, scapulars, and such like trumpery. 
Monsieur Cheneviere invited me to make his house my 
home, until he could have an opportunity of procuring 
me a situation, by which I could earn a subsistence. I 
became one of his family, and was treated by every 
individual member of it with the greatest attention and 
kindness. I shall, indeed, ever retain a grateful remem- 
brance of Madame Cheneviere, and her children, and must 
always feel pleasure, when I recall to mind, the happy, 
delicious moments, I spent in the society of this amiable 
family. I have not the least doubt, but Monsieur Chene- 
viere would have placed me, if I had remained under his 
protection, and in his house, in the way of becoming 
independent, and of making reparation for the sacrifice I 
had made, in quitting the profession on which my future 
advancement in life wholly depended. His influence was 
very great, not only at Geneva, but also in other parts of 
Switzerland ; indeed, in every place, where he was known, 
deference was paid to his opinion and letters. He could 
then very easily have procured me employment, had I 
not been induced by the persuasions of self-interested and 
designing men to quit his hospitable roof, and plunge 
myself headlong into the misery, in which I have lived 
during the last two years. How this came about will 
need some explanation. 

Geneva is very much frequented by English travellers, 
especially by those who either really, or affectedly, (the 
latter, of course, being the greater number,) are religiously 
inclined. When cloyed by the round of dissipation in 
which they are accustomed to live in the principal Italian 
cities, these birds of passage (as the Italians call them) 
betake themselves to Switzerland, and not knowing what 
else to do with themselves, become as beastly religious 
as they were before beastly licentious. As it was the 
fashion, while in Italy, to be a connoisseur in paintings, 
statues, mosaics, &c, so the fashion, while at Geneva, 

25 



27S SIX TEARS IN THE 

is changed into that of being a violent anti-papist, and 3 
critic on popish superstitions. These people are, for the 
most part, without any religion whatever. Their obser- 
vations on the manners and customs of the Italians are 
most ridiculous, and their strictures on popery, which 
they do not understand,* most diverting. They en- 
deavour to speak of the manners, and customs, of a peo- 
ple whose language they do not understand. Those that 
have acquired some smattering of it, pronounce it so 
barbarously, that the Italians can hardly keep their coun- 
tenances, while listening to the mutilation of their lan- 
guage. I have never yet met with an Englishman, who 
could speak, even tolerably well, any of the continental 
languages.t 

To this flock of wild geese, which I have been describ- 
ing, there is generally attached a charlatan, who calls 
himself " a clergyman of the church of England." He 
is, for the most part, the youngest son of some aristocratic 

* I remember to have seen the following in a book of travels, 
written by a cockney, who made the "grand tour " " The churches 
(at Rome) are, for the most part, dedicated to the Virgin. She is 
styled, in the inscription over the church doors, ' equal to God the 
Father' — in Latin ' Deiparse Virgini.' " What a blunder ! Had not 
the cockney some friend, who could inform him, that " Deiparae" is 
compounded of Deus, and pario — to bring forth, and not from Deus 
and par — equal. Popery is bad enough, without charging to her 
account the errors of those who do not understand her, and yet 
endeavour to describe and criticise her. 

j- The curious mistakes they make while endeavouring to translate 
their English commands into Italian — pure Italian to be sure — are most 
laughable. I shall mention one of them. An English traveller, who 
had tumbled by the mere force of gravity from the Alps, (Brooks 
says so, not I,) found himself, (by what means, he hardly knew 
himself,) housed in one of the hotels at Pisa. Thinking it too much 
trouble to halloo to the servant, when he wanted any thing, he 
directed, that a small bell should be brought into his room. Now, 
campanella means, in Italian, a small bell ; campanile means, on the 
other hand, a belfry. Our Englishman, mistaking one word for the 
other, ordered, that a " campanile^ should be brought to him. The 
servant, nearly bursting his sides with laughter, took him to the 
window, and pointing to the belfry of the cathedral, asked him " if 
that ' campanile would do for him ; because then he would be 
obliged to pay for pulling it down, and transporting it into the room," 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 279 

English family. Being unfit for any thing else, he is 
thrust, through the interest of his family, into the church, 
as the only profession wherein his want of qualifications 
could pass unnoticed. This, very probably, is the rea- 
son, that the church of England, so pure and so evangeli- 
cally Christian in her doctrines, approaches so very near 
to popery in her practices, and that she has acquired for 
herself the name of " the eldest daughter of the scarlet 
whore." 

The man who called himself " English chaplain," at 
Geneva, while I resided in that city, was not, however, 
either the son of a nobleman, or even of a private gen- 
tleman : he was neither more nor less, than a soi-disant 
converted Jew, who sold his religion to some of the 
bishops of the church of England, for more than the 
small share of it he possessed was worth — for two hun- 
dred pounds sterling, a wife, and ordination. His name 

is M s, the worthy descendant of a Polish Jew, who 

established himself in London, in the trade of an old 
clothes-seller, a few years before his scape-grace son 
thought proper to embrace Christianity. The son, after 
renouncing — what? not the Jewish religion surely — 
well, after saying, " I am a Christian," immediately ob- 
tained the "siller" and the wife; who, by the way, 
seems to have been created expressly for him ; so much 
is she like him in littleness of mind, and deformity of 
body and soul. Ordination was not received, however, 
with the same facility. The bishops scrupled to ordain 
so illiterate a man. Having, however, got him instructed, 
unde, unde, in some way or another, and being ashamed 
to break their promise to him, they, at length, ordained 
him also. Being unable to obtain a curacy, or parish in 
England, he set out for Geneva, and endeavoured to pro- 
cure a subsistence for himself, and his " dulce bene," by 
preaching a religion he did not understand, to the deistical 
English travellers, who winter, or summer, or — what you 
please, in that city. These, however, soon grew tired 
of his ignorance, which was only surpassed by his impu- 
dence, and he was obliged to pack up his alls — his wife 
and child — and return back to England. He spent nearly 



280 SIX YEARS IN THE 

six months, after his return from Switzerland, in a state 
of starvation, through the streets of London, till Lord 
W , compassionating his miserable condition, gave 

him a parish in Ireland, on his estate, near Arklow. He 
now resides at the latter place, metamorphosed, by the 
magical hand of the basest of Irish noblemen, from a 
Jewish vagabond into a preacher of the gospel to the poor 
Irish. What a preacher ! How, indeed, must the Irish 
love Protestantism, when they have such a sample of its 
ministers before their eyes, as this curious compound of 
roguery, deceit, and ignorance presents ! This cursed 
Jew now actually receives in tithes more than two thou- 
sand dollars annually from a starving population. He is 
known in Arklow, and its neighbourhood, as a most 
hardhearted, avaricious, unfeeling wretch — a sure sign, 
that when he pronounced the words, " I am a Christian," 
he had forgotten to throw off his Jewish propensities. I 
am confident, that his presence in Ireland is worth more 
than 2000/. sterling to the popish priests, who can point 
him out to their flock, as an example of the effects of 
Protestantism. If there were a dozen — and thank God 
there are not half that number — of such Protestant clergy- 
men in Ireland, the priests would sing a " Te Deum," 
and thank the land-owners, and tithe-owners, and middle- 
men, &c. for sending among them so many foreign vaga- 
bonds, by whose endeavours they might be assisted in 
imposing on the people ; for the pernicious example of 

Rabbi M s, and his coadjutors, would have as much 

effect in increasing the priests' power over the people, as 
the endeavours of the priests themselves. 

I have entered into a longer description of this Judaiz- 
ing Protestant clergyman than I at first intended. I know 
that what I have written of him is literally the truth. 
His early life I learned at Geneva from those who knew 
him well ; and his present condition I know from per- 
sonal observation made during a residence of some time, 
near his parish. Let not, however, any one imagine, 
that I have brought his name forward in this book, in 
order to injure him in the public estimation. This book 
will never be seen by those whose duty it would be to 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 281 

remove so great a disgrace from the respectable body of 
Irish clergy, and therefore it cannot be through any mo- 
tive of that kind that I make mention of him. It might, 
perhaps, be suspected, that I do it in order to vent my 
spleen against one who treated me unkindly ; and that I 
magnify his faults, and pass over his virtues, in order to 
make his character more detestable. I can only say, in 
answer, that were I desirous of venting my spleen, I 
would have taken some other method of doing so, besides 
contaminating the pages of this work by the introduction 
of private quarrels. As to my magnifying his faults, 
there is no occasion for me to take that trouble ; for they 
are already as conspicuous as the most powerful lens 
could possibly make them. His virtues, I must confess, I 
have never been able to discover ; and his nearest friends, 
however lynx-eyed they might be in looking for them, 
must, I believe, confess the same. I have simply brought 
him forward, as being the person by whose perfidy I 
have been precipitated into the greatest difficulties, and 
who endeavoured to make me the tool, by which he 
might acquire a name for himself — the name of having 
converted a popish priest. 

I was residing in the family of Monsieur Cheneviere, 

when my evil stars brought me acquainted with M 

and another English clergyman, who was at that time 

vegetating at Geneva. The latter's name is D n. 

He was, when I knew him, travelling tutor (a kind of 
upper valet-de-chambre) to Lord Jocelyn, son to the Earl 
of Roden, and nephew to the Bishop of Clogher, the same 
with him who disgraced himself and the church not many 

years ago. D n made himself nearly as conspicuous 

as M s in seducing me. This " par nobile fratrum" 

this pair of clerical miscreants so worked on my mind by 
their deceitful promises, that I at last, in an evil hour, 
consented to withdraw from the protection of my kind 
friend Cheneviere, and commit myself friendless and 
destitute to an unfeeling world. They promised that they 
would obtain for me admission into the church of Eng- 
land, as one of her ministers, and persuaded me to 
go to London, where they would introduce me by letter 

25* 



282 SIX YEARS IN THE 

to the Reformation Society. I consented, and — was 
undone. 

Upon my arrival in London, nearly penniless, I en- 
deavoured to earn a subsistence by teaching. The only 
person who took the least notice of me, was Lieutenant 
R d, who was at that time secretary to the Reforma- 
tion Society. So far from being able to obtain employ- 
ment as a clergyman, I could not obtain it even as a 

schoolmaster. Lieutenant R d told me plainly, that 

I had been deceived, and that neither D n nor M s 

had the power, nor the interest, nor indeed the will, of 
keeping their promises to me. It was evident, that all 
they wanted was the name of having made a convert, 
quite regardless what might be the future lot of that un- 
fortunate convert. My religious opinions were decidedly 
Socinian. Of this I made no secret. Those who wished 
to persuade me that Christ was God, made use of argu- 
ments which only strengthened me in my own opinion. 
Their arguments were persecution. Indeed, I found as 
much bigotry and uncharitableness in the greater part of the 
clergymen of the church of England, with whom I became 
acquainted, as I ever had found in a monk-house. Nor is 
this any wonder. The church established "bylaw," in 
England is, in her practices, though not in her doctrines, 
but very little removed from popery. Her clergy are, for 
the most part, distinguished for a persecuting spirit against 
those who dissent from her institutions and doctrines. 
Many of the English clergy do not even understand the 
spirit of their church, and not few might be found, who 
never read the thirty-nine articles, which they swear to, 
before their ordination. They embraced the ecclesiasti- 
cal state as a profession, and because some rich livings 
were in the gift of their families and friends. What 
popery is in Italy, the national church is in England : 
with this sole difference, that the former is corrupt both 
in doctrine and practice ; the latter in practice only, 

I spent five months in London, in a most miserable 
condition. The letters which I sent to my false friends 

at Geneva, were never answered. D n and M s 

had obtained their ends. I had served their purpose — I 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 283 

was converted, and converted through their means, (so at 
least they lyingly reported,) and they required nothing 
more. Lieutenant Rhind wrote to D n for my ec- 
clesiastical papers, which I had intrusted to his care, 
while at Geneva. His answer was, " that he had not 
them;" thus adding a breach of trust to his perfidious 
and ungentlemanly conduct. Finding my situation no 
longer supportable, and being ashamed to seek an asylum 
from my family in Ireland, after the step I had taken, I 
resolved to return to the continent again, and endeavour 
to find that subsistence among foreigners, which was 
denied me in England, on account of the bigotry and 
bad faith of those who call themselves " friends of the 
gospel." The following two years, I spent partly in 
France, and partly in the islands of the Mediterranean 
under British government, and at Smyrna, Asia Minor. 

I have been thus diffuse in relating the manner of my 
escape from monkery, and the treatment I received from 
cold-hearted, selfish men, who call themselves Protestants, 
in order that the reader might be able to form a judgment 
of the difficulties thrown in the way of those who desert 
from the ranks of popery. There are, to my certain 
knowledge, hundreds of popish priests in England, and 
Ireland, who would leave popery to-morrow, if they had 
the means of subsisting without it. While English Pro- 
testants are so lukewarm and selfish, there is very little 
probability that they will leave the ease and affluence of 
their professions, for the poverty and hardships they are 
most likely to undergo as Protestants. 



284 SIX YEARS IN THE 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

State of religion in Malta — Number of popish priests — Their ig- 
norance — Ignorance of the people — Bishop Caruana — Power of 
the pope in Malta — Anecdote of a Maltese attorney — Doctor Naudi 
— Maltese medical college — Naudi's treachery — He is found out 
by an English missionary — Maltese monks — Number of monas- 
teries in Malta — Paulotists — Dominicans — Carmelites — Ignorance 
of the Maltese monks — Convent of Capuchins at Malta — Padre 
Pietro, the Capuchin Custode — Padre Calcedonio — Story of a 
child violated by him in Santa Maura — He is sent to the galleys — 
Remission of his sentence through the influence of Gen. Rivarola 
— Esteemed as a saint by the Maltese. 

The how, the when, and the wherefore, I visited the 
island of Malta, can be but of little, if indeed any, impor- 
tance to the reader. Be it sufficient therefore to men- 
tion, that I established myself in that island, not long 
after my escape from monastic slavery. I shall then, in 
this and the following chapter, endeavour to give an 
account of the actual state of popery, and of the popish 
priesthood, with which which it is pestered. This ac- 
count drawn from personal observations made during the 
seven months I resided in the island, will not, I hope, be 
wholly void of interest. My means of acquiring informa- 
tion on this subject were unlimited, for I had easy access 
to some of the principal Maltese families, and had an 
extensive acquaintance among the clergy. Its accuracy 
may be the more relied upon, because, at that time, 
worldly prudence, and the fear of persecution, made me 
dissemble my real belief in religious matters, and there- 
fore I could observe without any suspicion. The perse- 
cution which I so much feared, came in the end, and 
annoyed me not a little, so that I thought it prudent to 
leave the island. My former profession was discovered 
by a monk, who came from Rome to Malta, on some 
business of his order, and who was one of my college 
companions. He soon recognised me, and readily ac- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 285 

quainted Monsignor the Bishop of my real profession, 
who thought himself justified in exciting a persecution 
against me, and of representing me as a heretic, and as 
one excommunicated for having, without proper authority, 
thrown off the Franciscan habit. 

There are in the small island of Malta, and another 
island still smaller attached to it, which is called Gozo, 
more than five hundred priests, averaging on the whole, 
one priest to every one hundred and fifty inhabitants. It 
may be supposed then, that people so well supplied with 
pastors, should be also well instructed in the doctrines of 
Christianity. Quite the contrary, however, is the case, 
for very few, indeed not one in a hundred of this crowd- 
ed population knows how to read and write, and as for 
understanding the leading points of Christianity, the 
greater number of the priests themselves do not under- 
stand farther of them than reciting a few prayers in a 
language, of which they are as ignorant as they are 
of every polite accomplishment — I mean the Latin lan- 
guage — for there are not ten priests in the island, who 
can be said to perfectly understand it. How then could 
they teach their flock, what they do not understand them- 
selves ? unless indeed it is not necessary for a teacher to 
understand what he teaches. The people know very 
well how to mumble over in barbarous Latin (a hodge- 
podge of Maltese, Italian and Latin, which is incompre- 
hensible as well to the scholar as to those that mutter it,) 
Pater nosters and Ave Maria's before the images of the 
Virgin and other saints, to go and prostrate themselves to 
obtain remission of their sins at the feet of some clownish 
priest, to attend at the idolatrous ceremony of the mass, 
and throw themselves on their knees before a consecrated 
wafer and worship it as their God! If this be Chris- 
tianity, I must confess that they are excellent Christians ; 
and their pastors, faithful and Christian ministers; for 
they take no small pains to teach the people to be con- 
versant and skilled in things of this kind. But if these 
things, so far from being Christianity, can with more pro- 
priety be called by their true name anti-Christianity, what 
then must we think of a church, which thus leads so 



286 SIX YEARS IN THE 

many immortal souls headlong into the gulf of error and 
perdition, by teaching for the doctrines of Christ, the 
doctrines of anti-Christ, and pointing out as the road to 
salvation, the road to perdition and death. 

Very few of this benighted people thus led astray by 
the teaching of those who are set over them for guides, 
have any suspicion, for they are too ignorant, of the mon- 
strous errors which they are taught to regard as the 
Christian faith : they place infinite trust in their priests, 
and implicitly obey their every command. These, again, 
are subservient to the bishop, who, in turn, depends upon 
the court of Rome ; so that the pope may be said to have 
the whole government of the ecclesiastical affairs of the 
island directly in his own hands. It must not be suppos- 
ed mat every bishop who governs the island of Malta in 
the name of the pope, is in reality sincerely attached to 
him or his religion : the contrary is very often the case. 
Caruana, the present bishop, is supposed by a great many 
to be a confirmed Deist, and to yield implicit obedience 
to the court of Rome, only through fear of being deposed, 
and of losing thereby his princely income. He well knows, 
that were he to act otherwise, English protection, if granted 
to him, would not be sufficient to keep him in his see, 
contrary to the endeavours and chicanery of the Roman 
court, which, in a short time, and for the trouble of issu- 
ing the sentence of suspension, would have the entire 
clergy, with few exceptions, and with them the people 
on its side, as executioners of its mandate. The bishop 
therefore is obliged to keep himself quiet, and show him- 
self even zealous in enforcing by words and example the 
doctrines of Rome, and in riveting more and more the 
chains by which the people are kept in subjection to her 
soul-destroying superstitions. Some few Maltese there 
are, whose better judgments and more enlightened minds, 
would excite them to cast off the galling shackles of 
popery ; but they fear the monstrum horrendum, the 
people, and the persecution, which they may be sure to 
meet with, on its being known that they had taken such 
a step. The prospects in life also of those who depend 
for support on the emoluments flowing from their profes- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 2S7 

sions would be materially injured. If there be any su- 
periority of mind and feelings among this degraded people, 
degraded through the blighting influence of popery, this 
superiority must be looked for among the physicians, 
surgeons, advocates, attorneys, and other professional 
men. But these, for the most part, depend for subsis- 
tence on their profession ; if then they should decline in 
the public estimation, their practice in their professions 
would be materially injured. They, therefore, whatever 
be their real opinions, are obliged to conform themselves 
to the reigning superstitions, for they are well aware of 
the priests' power, in exciting the popular feelings, and 
of the consequence of their being proclaimed heretics by 
these enemies of all true religion. 

One Maltese gentleman in particular — an attorney of 
great practice, with whom I was on terms of intimacy— 
upon having received some cause of uneasiness from the 
meddling of priests in his private concerns, exclaimed one 
day in my presence, while on a visit to him, " that he 
hoped to see the day that the last king would be strangled 
with the entrails of the last priest." It may be supposed 
that he had received some unusual provocation, before he 
could be excited to make use of such strong, and indeed, 
not very becoming language, which, by the way, he bor- 
rowed from the French revolutionists of '89. What his 
provocation at that time was, I am not aware, but I know 
that he suffered not a little in his character and practice 
through suspicions of heterodoxy cast upon him by the 
popish priests ; nor did he take much pains to prove false 
such suspicions, for, though in the transactions of busi- 
ness, and in his private character, he exhibited himself a 
strictly honest and honourable man, yet he never, as far 
as I could learn, went to either mass, church, or meeting, 
or to any place appointed for divine worship. He had, 
however, a Deodati's Bible in his possession, and was 
accustomed to read it frequently, (for the beauty of the 
language he said himself,) for the instruction and consola- 
tion which the divine word imparts, I was inclined to 
suspect, rather. Be his motives for reading it what they 
may, I always was of opinion, that he was a zealous, 



288 SIX YEARS IN THE 

though a hidden favourer of the Christianity which it 
teaches, and an enemy of the corrupt Christianity of 
Rome, however he may restrain himself, through pruden- 
tial motives, from manifesting that enmity. 

Another Maltese, a physician, by the name of Naudi, 
and professor in the medical college of Malta,* had pri- 
vately embraced the reformed religion, and seemed so 
sincere in his convictions of the errors of popery, and in 
his love for the doctrines of the Bible, that he was appoint- 
ed by some English Bible society, its agent in Malta, 
and granted a yearly salary from the same in considera- 
tion of his trouble. He continued for more than two 
years in this connexion with the society, and apparently 
labouring for it to the best of his abilities, so that the 
sum which he received in payment of his trouble, seemed 
by the managers very profitably laid out ; when it was 
discovered that he had almost from the beginning, entered 
into a private agreement with the superior clergy of Malta 
to betray the cause he had embarked in, and thwart, in- 
stead of advancing its exertions in the cause of Christ. 
It seems, that soon after his being appointed as an officer 
of the Bible society, he had agreed with the bishop to act 
so in his relations with it, that his efforts would rather 
tend to the advancement of popery, than to the advantage 
of the Bible cause. To secure himself against the tongues 
of his countrymen, who would certainly judge, from his 
outward activity in distributing Bibles, that he was an 

* Malta has also its medical college, instituted, Diis iratis, for the 
destruction of the poor Levantines ; as from it are sent forth the host 
of ignorant quacks, with not even a superficial knowledge of medicine 
or surgery, but who are nevertheless diplomatized, and graduated in 
this so called medical university, and then scatter themselves through 
all Turkey, and Egypt, the harbingers of death and destruction to 
all who submit- to their unskilful treatment. Nothing can surpass 
this class of gentry in ignorance and roguery, but their presumption 
and avarice. The fbrmer carries them through thick and thin with 
the more honest and less cunning, though perhaps more enlightened 
Turks ; the latter excites them to amass money, no matter how, and 
by what fraudulent contrivances ; with which they return after a few 
years, (if not cut off before then by the plague,) to their rockv home, 
to spend it and laugh at the duped Turks. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC 289 

active agent in the cause of Protestantism, he obtained a 
written document from Monsignor the Bishop, by exhibit- 
ing which, he could without difficulty stop the mouths 
of all, who may have taken the liberty to upbraid him 
for what they termed his apostacy. He also made a 
public profession of the Catholic faith in the church of St. 
Giovanni, and subscribed a paper, in which were con- 
tained the various articles of that faith, and more espe- 
cially such as are protested against by Protestants. This 
paper, signed by his hand, was lodged in the archives of 
the said church, to be brought forward when required. 
All this time, he was apparently an active agent of the 
Bible Society, and conversant with the missionaries of 
Malta; he was the first, in their private meetings, to 
speak against the superstitions of popery, and the scan- 
dalous lives of its ministers, and to encourage them in 
their endeavours to crush the monster. Every thing that 
happened in those private meetings was faithfully trans- 
mitted by him to the bishop, who could thus better take 
measures for thwarting them. This imposition at last 
reached the knowledge of an English missionary, a long 
time resident on the island, and he thought it his duty to 
.search farther into it. Through an acquaintance, which 
he formed with one of the canons of St. Giovanni, he 
obtained a copy, taken with his own hand, I believe, of 
the articles of faith signed by the M. D., and despatched 
it to England to be laid before the society, by which the 
former was employed ; accompanying it with a letter 
from himself. What was the issue of the inquiry, or 
how the agent endeavoured to exculpate himself with 
the society, or whether he attempted any thing like an 
exculpation, I am not able to say, as I departed from 
Malta before any thing farther was known on the 
subject. 

The circumstances just related, I have from the lips of 
the missionary who discovered the cheat, and who indeed, 
on other occasions, as well as this, has shown himself 
faithful to the trust reposed in him by the society under 
which he labours, and by which he is supported. His 

26 



290 SIX YEARS IN THE 

zeal in the cause of Christ, and his attempts to expose 
popery, have made him many enemies in the island ; 
indeed, I have never yet heard a Maltese speak well of 
him, which in itself ought to be a sufficient proof of his 
courage and fidelity in the cause in which he is engaged ; 
for the Maltese pursue with unremitting rancour all who 
attempt to serve them by imparting the unadulterated 
truths of Christianity. In the hypocritical physician, 
we have an example of a man dead to all sense of honour 
and religion, who for the sake of filthy gain, throws aside 
the character of a gentleman, to which his profession and 
education entitle him, and submits to act the spy and 
cheat ; to act the part of the serpent in the bosom of 
those who imprudently intrusted the management of their 
affairs to his hands. It would be hard to find any other 
than a Maltese, one, too, bigotedly attached to the doc- 
trines of popery, who would act so base a part. He 
proved himself, indeed, a true papist, by his league with 
the main-spring of popish deception in, the island — the 
bishop — who very probably had part of the plunder ; for 
the pay received from the Bible Society can be called by 
no other name. 

Malta, besides the herd of secular priests, a sketch of 
whose lives and manners has been attempted in the fore- 
going, is also blessed with from ten to twelve convents of 
lazy monks. The seed of these prolific propagators of error 
had been imported by the knights, on first gaining posses- 
sion of the island, in the shape of a few Franciscan and 
Dominican friars carried about by the knights in the 
character of chaplains to the order. These soon per- 
ceived that Malta would be a good place for establishing 
resting places for their brother drones, and accordingly, 
under the protecting wings of the knights, they set about 
establishing convents for their respective orders. These 
convents were at first peopled or rather ?nonked from the 
neighbouring island of Sicily — an island as famous in 
modern times for its starving population, and its inex- 
haustible store of this kind of cattle — from the lordly 
and proud Benedictine down to the self-called humble 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 291 

Paulotist* — as it was anciently for the wealth of its in- 
habitants, and the production of warriors, poets and 
philosophers. The Maltese themselves learned after a 
little time the happiness of monkery, and of living in 
idleness for the " love of God" Novitiates were then 
immediately established, and young men presented them- 
selves for admission into the order ; and thus was 
monkery provided with a never failing source for replac- 
ing those whom death may have freed the world of ; or 
whom their own intemperance and gormandizing may 
have carried to an early grave. Other orders beside the 
two mentioned above, soon obtained a footing on the 
island, and brought with them the superstitions peculiar 
to their different institutes. The Dominicans had already 
established the rosary of the Virgin Mary, which they 
feign to have been instituted at the request of the queen 
of heaven herself who had appeared to their founder, St. 
Dominick,t had a confab with him on that subject. The 
Franciscans had also a care to establish some superstition, 
instituted through the agency of their Francis ; in which 
they were assisted by other branches of the Franciscan 
order, afterward established, by the Capuchins and Re- 
formed Cordeliers, or Zoccolonti, as the Italians call them. 
Possessed of this troop of impostors, which was afterward 
strengthened by the addition of the primitive Carmelites^ 

* Monks of the order of St. Francis de Paulo, commonly called 
" minims," a name they assumed through humility, and rivalry of 
those of St. Francis of Assisi, who called themselves " minor friars" 
A show of humility was the fashion in those days. 

j- Of all the saints in the popish calendar, this man showed himself, 
while alive, the most cruel and blood-thirsty. There are certainly 
many others enrolled by popes in the catalogue of saints, whose only 
merit consisted in the quantity of blood which they caused to be shed, 
while propagating the popish doctrines. If, however, cruelty and 
hard-heartedness be qualifications essential to a saint, no saint ever 
canonized deserved that honour better than Dominick, both for his 
own zeal in burning heretics, and for the establishment of the inquisi- 
tion, the care of which, like a good father, he left to his no way degene- 
rate children. 

# Carmelites take their name from Mount Carmel, where they are 
said to have been first instituted by Elias. They are also called the 
order of the Scapular, from a square piece of cloth, which they carry 



292 SIX YEARS IN THE 

so called, and the Teresian Carmelites, called Teresians, 
the island of Malta soon bid fair to be distinguished 
among the other islands of the Mediterranean, as well for 
the arms of its warlike owners — the knights, as for the 
protection it afforded to these sowers of false religion, 
by whom every popish doctrine was established in its 
most disgusting form ; such as saint worship, relic wor- 
ship, processions, and all the other ceremonies and rites, 
with which the pope and his myrmidons have bastardized 
the legitimate doctrines of Christ. 

Having had intimate acquaintance with the greater 
part of the members composing the convents, and having 
observed closely their manners and customs, which in- 
deed, are in many respects different from those of their 
brethren on the continent of Europe, I have come to the 
conclusion that they are less enlightened taken in a body, 
though more bigoted and more sincere it their attachment 
to the errors of the church of Rome, than the latter. 
The stock of information which they possess is very 
trifling, never exceeding, with very few exceptions, a 
slight knowledge of Latin, and a few useless distinctions 
in dogmatical theology, so metaphysical and nonsensi- 
cal, that they learn them as parrots by rote ; and he is 
thought the most learned theologian, who can quote from 
the Angelic doctor, Thomas d'Aquinas, or from the 
Seraphic doctor, Bonaventure, the greater number of 
sentences, which, so far from understanding the meaning 
of, he often does not understand the literal translation of 
the Latin words, in which they are written. 

The Capuchins have a very fine, indeed a splendid 
convent, outside the walls of Valetta, though not outside 
the outward fortifications of the city. The place in which 
it is built is called Floriana; for what reason, I am 
ignorant, unless it be named so in honour of some grand 

in their habit, on which is worked the image of the Virgin Mary, 
whom they worship and honour more than they do her Son. The 
Teresians are a reformed branch of this order, instituted by Teresa, a 
Spanish mad-woman, of whom many absurd and lying wonders are 
related. She was on a par in fanaticism with the more modern 
Joanna Southcote. 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 293 

master, or some other person connected with the knights 
of St* John. In this convent, though without lands or any 
fixed income, there are nevertheless maintained in splen- 
dour and luxury more than forty dronish monks, who, in 
return for the support thus liberally bestowed upon them 
by an ignorant population, endeavour to corrupt their 
minds as much as possible with the superstitions of false 
religion, and turn them away from the only Mediator 
between God and man. The rosary of the Madonna, the 
worship of St. Francis, the efficacy of indulgences, and 
all the other novelties, which popery has ingrafted on the 
pure stock of Christianity and substituted for the worship 
of Christ, are preached by them with great zeal, and with 
more effect too, than flow from the preaching of the other 
orders; because the Capuchins are better respected and 
more esteemed than the latter, by reason of a more 
imposing exterior, and consequently these pernicious 
doctrines come with more weight and make a greater 
impression upon the hearers, when preached by them, 
than they possibly could, when preached by those of a 
less imposing outside, or by those, who take less care to 
conciliate the affections of the people, as having a fixed 
income of their own, they are less dependent upon them. 
The convent of the Floriana is the head convent of the 
Capuchin order in Malta, and to it are subject two other 
convents of the same order ; one at Citta Vittoriosa, and 
the other in the small island of Gozo. The Padre Cus- 
tode — the name which the superior goes by — resides at 
the head convent, and to his immediate jurisdiction, 
independent of the bishop, are subject the whole three. 
The general of the order, therefore, at Rome has the real 
government of these convents in his hands ; for the Padre 
Custode can do nothing but what is commanded by the 
former. The same may be said of the government of 
the other orders, the local superiors of which are totally 
independent of the Bishop of Malta, and hold their offices 
direct from their respective generals at Rome. In this 
way is the influence of Rome over the minds and morals 
of the people maintained, not only in Malta, but in every 
country where her religion has gained ground. 

26* 



294 SIX YEARS IN THE 

The present custode of the Capuchins of Malta seems 
to have been chosen to that office for no other reason 
than his profound ignorance, for truly, he is the most 
ignorant of the ignorant community which he governs. 
It would seem that ignorance is meritorious among them ; 
otherwise I cannot imagine what influenced those, upon 
whose votes the election depended, to think upon, not 
to say, elect, so asinine a superior. Padre Pietro (for 
that is his name) is so glaringly divested of every quali- 
fication for which man gains ascendancy over his fellow, 
that, laying aside his superstition and bigotry — the 
never- failing attendants of ignorance — he seems to be by 
many degrees inferior in his mental capacities to the illite- 
rate islanders, by whom he is looked up to with a degree 
of veneration. He had been, for many years, absent 
from the island as a missionary — what a missionary !— . 
in some of the uncultivated regions of Africa, where the 
inhabitants speak a language bordering on the pataa, 
spoken in Malta. The knowledge of this jargon, which 
he learned from his cradle, was the only qualification he 
possessed for a missionary, and for this he was sent by 
the Propaganda at Rome, to carry the little he knew of 
popery (for he is absolutely too ignorant to know much 
about it) to the benighted Africans. On his return he 
gained consequence among his countrymen, for having 
been a missionary, and among his brother monks, for 
having amassed money, filched from the pockets of those 
who were so unfortunate as to come under the influence 
of his priestcraft. With this money, it is said, he bought 
the Votes of the other monks, and thereby obtained the 
office of custode, to the rejection of men who were com- 
paratively qualified for such an office. One of those 
rejected to make room for him — a certain Padre Diomede 
— was really a superior man for his station, and had his 
lot been cast in any other sphere of life than that of a 
monk's, he would have been a useful member of society : 
as it was, he had nothing of the monk about him but the 
habit. He died soon after his election was nullified, 
some say of a broken heart, brought on by the persecu- 
tion of the other monks, by whom he was hated for being 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 295 

superior to themselves in every thing which can render 
one man superior to another. 

I have been thus diffuse on the character of this worth- 
less monk, not that I supposed him worth the trouble of 
bringing his name before the public, but because, taking 
him on account of the superior office he holds, as a cri- 
terion, judgment might be formed of the other Capuchins, 
who are blessed by his government. If, then, such is the 
head, what must the other members be ? A.nd what must 
we think of the venality and meanness of the other monks, 
who though there are among them some men of superior 
qualifications, i. e. comparatively so, for " Beati mono- 
culi in terra csecoram" (happy are the one-eyed in the 
country of the blind) — yet chose rather, either through 
envy or bribery, to elect for superior this man, very little 
superior to the brute creation in intellect, and nothing at 
all to the priests of Juggernaut in religion, if, indeed, the 
superiority does not rest with the latter. 

There is also living at the convent of the Floriana 
another monk, who has rendered himself conspicuous, 
though in a different way from the former ; for as Padre 
Pietro is remarkable for his ignorance, his bigotry, and 
his rank of superior, so also is Padre Calcedonio, whom 
we are about to introduce to the reader's acquaintance, 
equally remarkable for his crimes and scandalous life. 
If any one of those, into whose hands this book falls, has 
ever been in the island of Malta, he cannot but have 
observed, walking through Strada Reala, a Capuchin 
monk, of a mortified exterior, tall in stature, and of a 
prominent belly, having his eyes armed with a pair of 
spectacles, for he pretends to be near-sighted. If he had 
observed him, and then asked the smallest child of Malta, 
" Who is that padrfe V the child, in wonder at his jiot 
knowing what every one knows, will exclaim, " ! that 
is Padre Calcedonio, the Capuchin saint ; and you must 
be a stranger in Malta not to know him." Of this Pa- 
dre Calcedonio, the Capuchin saint, the history may not 
be entirely uninteresting to the reader, for whose gratifi- 
cation it is here inserted. It is no secret in Malta, not 
even to the very persons who esteem the subject of it a 



296 SIX YEARS IN THE 

saint ; so much easier is it to pass for a saint than for an 
honest and virtuous man, and so inclined is a priest- 
ridden people to pass over the defects, and crimes, of its 
spiritual teachers. 

This Padre Calcedonio was sent about twelve years 
ago, by the superior of the Capuchins of Malta, to the 
island of Santa Maura, one of the Ionian islands, in the 
capacity of chaplain to the Sicilian and Corsican soldiers, 
in the English service, by whom the garrison was 
manned. On these troops being disbanded, he continued 
in the same relation to the Sicilian and Maltese civilians, 
who considered that island a good place for establishing 
manufactories, and exercising their various professions. 
His insinuating' manners, and sanctimonious exterior, 
gained him the affections of these people, and he grew 
into great repute among them. Being the only Roman 
Catholic priest on the island, for the Greek church is 
that followed by the natives, he was esteemed the more, 
as the people following the Latin church would feel 
severely the want of a minister of their own persuasion, 
if he should be withdrawn, or should take offence at their 
treatment, and return to his convent at Malta. He was 
on this account liberally supported by them, and almost 
idolized : indeed, his general conduct was irreprehensible ; 
so much so, that when a Greek woman accused him of 
attempting the seduction of her daughter, who washed for 
him, little was wanting, that she was not torn asunder by 
the infuriated Latins, who considered her charge as a 
calumny invented by the Greek priests to cast odium on 
the Latin church, by accusing its minister of incontinency. 
The sequel, however, proved the justice of the woman's 
charge. Among the Latins, who lived on the island, 
there was a Sicilian mechanic, wno, by industry, and 
attendance to his business, was acquiring an honest com 
petency. He also had a little trade with his native island, 
Sicily, in sending some of the products of Santa Maura 
there, and receiving in return clothes, cotton, stockings, 
&c. With this man, Padre Calcedonio had a very great 
intimacy*; indeed, it was shrewdly suspected, that the 
former was trafficking with the padre's money, for to his 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 297 

other good qualifications, Padre Calcedonio added that 
of insatiable avarice, and as it would be unseemly for 
him, a missionary, to enter on commercial pursuits in his 
own name, to avoid the tongues of the people, he com- 
missioned his friend, the Sicilian, to act for him. Be 
this as it may, it is certain that a close intimacy existed 
between them, and they were frequent visiters and guests 
at the houses of each other. 

The padre had a neat little house expressly built for 
him close to the church, so that he had very little trouble 
to be always present when his ministry was wanted. To 
this house the Sicilian and his family were accustomed 
to come on visits of ceremony, and spend their evenings 
in its owner's company. It happened one day, that the 
Sicilian sent one of his daughters, a child about twelve 
years of age, to the padre's house, for something that the 
latter had promised to give him. She was received with 
the greatest kindness by the monk, and given some 
refreshment of sweet cakes and wine, for he was well 
known for his attachment to children, and was accustomed 
to carry something sweet in his pocket to bestow upon 
them, when he visited at their parents' houses : it was 
not suspected, however, that he could possibly harbour, 
for one moment, the diabolical designs which he mani- 
fested on the present occasion. Having made the child 
drink wine, nearly to intoxication, he took her in his 
arms, and conveyed her into his bed-room, and there 
satisfied his brutal passion. Had he foreseen the conse- 
quence of his crime, however, it is most probable that he 
would not have hazarded the attempt. The child being 
of a tender age, was unable to bear up under the violence 
offered her, and was heard crying bitterly, when the door 
was forced in, and my hero was discovered endeavouring 
to appease her, and stuffing her mouth with sweet cakes 
to hinder her from crying. A physician was sent for, 
and on examining the child, he immediately discovered 
that she had been violated, and expressed a doubt of her 
recovery from the injury received. While using the 
necessary means for her recovery the poor child fainted, 
and it was believed by those present, (one of whom, a 



298 SIX YEARS IN THE 

Maltese shipmaster, of the name of Elul, who had just 
come to Santa Maura that very day, related the circum- 
stance to me,) that she had expired. Our gallant padre 
was immediately taken into custody, and well for himselt 
that he was, because, had he not been protected by those 
who took him prisoner, he would not be alive to-day to 
act the saint through the streets of Malta, for the people, 
both Greek and Latin, would have torn him in twain. 
The poor child, the victim of his lust, after recovering 
from the swoon, gathered strength enough to be able to 
tell her parents what the wretch had done to her, and 
then sank into her former stupor. Her life was des- 
paired of for many weeks. The physician, after further 
examination, discovered that she had also been infected 
by her ravisher with a loathsome, unnameable disease — 
a sure sign that the padre had not lived, hitherto, in that 
continency, for which his friends gave him credit ; attri- 
buting to calumny the report of those who knew how he 
really lived, and especially the charge made against him 
by the Greek woman, which has already been spoken of. 
Being brought before the tribunal at Zante, whither he 
was transferred for trial, he made no defence, but simply 
said, that he was innocent, and the victim of a conspiracy 
entered into against him by the libertines of Santa Maura, 
for his destruction. His guilt was proved by the evidence 
of the child herself, and of the physician who examined 
her, and corroborated by the testimony of some of those, 
who, attracted by the child's screams, broke open the door 
of his house, and found him endeavouring to appease the 
child, as has been already related. He was sentenced 
by the court to four years' hard labour among the felons 
of Santa Maura, with a chain to his leg, as is the custom 
with those whom they call galliotti, or those condemned 
to the galleys — a very lenient sentence, if his crime be 
taken into consideration ; for, had he committed the same 
crime in England, he would certainly have been punished 
by death. He passed through four months of his sen- 
tence, and was remarked by his jailers for the most inde- 
cent, hardened conduct, during that time. He could be 
seen divested of his habit, and dressed as a convict, sweep- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 299 

ing the streets of Santa Maura, till General Rivarola, a 
Corsican in the English service, used his influence with 
the government to obtain a remission of his sentence, not 
so much for the sake of the wretch himself, as for the 
Roman Catholic religion, of which he was a minister, 
and to which the general was, and is, very much attached. 
Through his endeavours he was discharged, and sent to 
Malta, where, in a short time, he again grew devout, and 
denied his guilt. His insinuating address, and plausible 
story, made many suppose that he was really the victim 
of injustice ; and even his own superior was the first to 
write to the Capuchin general, in Rome, to have him 
reinstated in his former dignity, and restored to all the 
honours of the priesthood. He is now in Malta, practis- 
ing his wonted impositions, and esteemed as a saint by 
the greater part of the people. Whether his bad success 
at Santa Maura has cured him of his propensities to 
certain failings, I am unable to judge, though it is very 
probable, as he is not yet very old, that that discovery 
and exposure have only taught him more prudence, and 
not more continence, and that, when he chooses to in- 
dulge in his illicit gratifications, he will take very good 
care not to indulge in them at the expense of a child of 
twelve years old. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Continuation of remarks upon the popish clergy of Malta — Their 
general incontinency — Father Butler, chaplain to the English 
forces at Malta — Meaning of the initials " D. D." affixed to his 
name — His mania for making proselytes — Sample of popish con- 
versions — A Protestant converted to popery after death — Another 
sample of Father Butler's way of making proselytes — Father But- 
ler appears in a new character — Sir Dominick Ritual, and Sir Paul 
Text-book — Sir Dominick disgraces his knighthood — Concluding 
remarks on popery in Malta. 

There are many other monks at Malta, both of the 
Capuchin and other orders, noted for crimes, not indeed 
of so deep a dye as the one just related, or such as would 
bring them under the cognizance of the secular arm, but 



300 SIX YEARS IN THE 

yet quite unbecoming their profession, and their station 
in life. Incontinency is so common among them that 
transgressions of that nature are very little noticed ; being 
passed over as every day's occurrences. This I wish to 
be understood of the priests of Malta, and those of the 
Ionian islands, alone ; for in other countries, except Ire- 
land, things of that kind are less frequent, either because 
severely punished when discovered, or perhaps, because 
less known, as the punishment inflicted upon those who 
are discovered, has the effect of making others more cau- 
tious in their actions, and when they do transgress, to 
transgress so privately that their transgressions never 
come to light. 

Before I quit Malta, I must say a few words of the 
popish chaplain of the English forces, who deserves a 
place among the other clergy of this island, if for nothing 
else, at least for his desire of brutalizing the minds of 
the unfortunate Irish soldiers, who fall under the influence 
of his ministry. 

This champion of popery, as he wishes to be thought, 
but unfortunately he wants both the talents and qualifica- 
tions to be a successful one, is a native of some part of 
the county of Limerick, Ireland. His name is Butler. 
He studied at Rome, under the tuition of the worthy 
sons of St. Dominick, whose order he embraced. w After 
nominally passing through a course of dogmatical and 
moral theology, he was sent to Malta in the character of 
chaplain to the English forces in that island. He lived 
for some time at the Dominican convent among his 
fellow monks, till having incurred the displeasure of the 
Maltese superior, for something which was not consider- 
ed meet in his conduct— -and it must have been something 
extraordinary to provoke the censure of a superior so 
latitudinarian in morality as the Dominican superior in 
Malta — he thought it prudent to supplicate the court of 
Rome for leave to separate from the order altogether, and 
live as a secular priest. This leave he obtained, though 
not without some difficulty ; for monks are not over-fond 
of letting go the hold which they once have taken of the 
soul and body of another ; and he now lives in private 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 301 

lodgings, at Malta, under the title of the Rev. T. Butler, 
D. D. — the last two letters meaning, I presume, "drunken 
Dominican" for he certainly deserves this title better 
than that of " doctor of divinity," as his very great 
ignorance shows him to have no claim whatever to the 
latter, whereas the tippling propensities, for which he is 
remarkahje, (and for which, perhaps, he provoked the 
reproof from his Dominican superior, that excited him 
to leave the order,) establish his right to the former 
title.* 

The ruling passion of this man, next to indulging in 
the use of intoxicating drinks, seems to be the converting, 
or rather perverting, to the holy Roman Catholic faith — • 
what high sounding adjectives to a substantive without 
a substance — the weak Protestants attached to the army ; 
those whose early education was neglected, and who are 
Protestants only in name, without the slightest know- 
ledge of the vital truths of Protestantism. People of this 
class being dazzled with the gaudy trappings, and theatri- 
cal pageantry of popery, become an easy prey to the 
Jesuitical manoeuvres of the Maltese priests, and more 
especially, to the endeavours of Butler, who lets slip no 
opportunity of making proselytes, not so much through 
any love he holds to Christianity, for his scandalous life 
proclaims him an infidel, as for the sake of gaining credit 
for himself by their conversion. He makes it his boast 
that during the five years he has been chaplain in Malta, 
he has had the honour of making six converts, partly men 
and partly women, and all of the lower class of English 
attached to the army. In illustration of the manner in 
which this hero carries on his proselytizing system, the 
following example will not be thought wholly irrelevant. 

* Justice obliges me to add, that the Maltese clergy, among the 
mass of vices for which they are distinguished, have one good 
quality — that of detesting intoxication. I do not know one single 
individual among them who has ever been found guilty of drunken- 
ness, in public at least, or in private either, I am inclined to think. 
They refrain constitutionally from excess in intoxicating drinks. 
The appearance of Butler among them, and of another English — > 
not Irish — priest, since dead, very much scandalized them. 

. 27 



302 SIX YEARS IN THE 

An English Protestant of the name of Muller, long 
time a resident in Malta, where he was employed in the 
civil government, had from his infancy lived without 
God, and had nothing of the Protestant about him, but 
the name, which he acquired from his parents being of 
that denomination. Being seized with a lingering illness, 
the bed of sickness brought forcibly to his mind his ill- 
spent life, and his neglect of God and religion, while in 
the enjoyment of health. Feeling his end fast approach- 
ing, he sent for the Protestant chaplain of the forces, a 
Mr. Mesurier, and begged him to pray with him, and to 
lay open the hopes that a dying sinner can lay hold on 
for obtaining happiness in the ne\t world. Mr. Mesurier 
found the unfortunate man totally ignorant of the first 
principles of Christianity, and had to explain to him, as 
to an infant, every thing relating to the Christian religion ; 
such- as the love of God to mankind, who sent down his 
only begotten Son, to be offered up as a sacrifice to his 
offended majesty for their sins, and other things of 
this kind. He had never read the Bible in his life, 
and ignorance made him doubt of all religions. With 
some difficulty, and great perseverance, (for his sickness 
was a long one, of more than three months' continuance,) 
Mesurier brought him to understand and believe in some 
of the most essential articles of revelation, and had him 
fully prepared and reconciled to depart from this world, 
trusting and relying on the merits of his Redeemer for 
salvation. In this state of mind, the man expired in the 
presence of Mr. Mesurier. The deceased had a sister 
living with him, who took care of his household concerns, 
(for he was never married,) one that was as ignorant as 
himself of vital religion. This, her ignorance, made her 
an easy prey to the Maltese priests ; and she had, some 
time before her brother's illness, and without his know- 
ledge, renounced the errors of Protestantism, as the 
doctrines of the Bible are called by papists, in the hands 
of Father Butler. 

During her brother's illness, she often attempted to 
have his permission to bring that priest to see him ; but 
he always refused ; being unwilling to have his last 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 303 

moments disturbed by the presence of one, who, he well 
knew, putting religion out of the question, showed no 
very good example to his followers. The breath how- 
ever had no sooner left his body, and the Protestant 
clergyman departed, than away she runs for Father But- 
ler, as it had already been agreed upon between them. 
The latter arrives at the dead man's late residence out of 
breath with haste, and pulling out his oil-horn, he sets 
about greasing the inanimate corpse, and going through 
the other ceremonies practised at the administration of 
extreme unction. This being finished, the sister then 
began to wail, and externate her grief for her brother's 
death in a thousand ridiculous ways, chiefly for the sake 
of attracting the notice of the neighbours, who were yet 
ignorant of his demise. These assembled to condole 
with the bereaved sister, and finding Father Butler in 
the house, and the body of the deceased still wet from 
the oil, with which it was besmeared, they immediately 
gave out, that Muller had died a Roman Catholic through 
the pious exertions of Father Butler, whose fame for 
having drawn his soul from the jaws of hell, to which 
the Maltese charitably consign all who die Protestants, 
resounded in the mouths of all. The dead body was 
borne by the people in triumph to the nearest church, 
and placed on a bier, designed for that purpose in the 
middle of the aisle, where it was surrounded by wax- 
candles, while masses were celebrated for the repose of 
the soul, which formerly resided in it. 

This was a day of triumph to the priests of Malta. 
They little cared about the truth of the conversion, or the 
sanctity of the subject of it : all they wanted was the 
name, and that they acquired by the arts already related. 
The Protestant chaplain, who knew how affairs stood, 
and who saw the man expire in his own presence, told 
his friends and those who would listen to him, the whole 
truth ; but it would be no easy matter to make the Mal- 
tese think themselves deceived, or make them aware of 
the cheat practised on their credulity. Conscious of 
having done his duty, and the press being restricted by 
the policy of the government, Mesurier was obliged to 



304 SIX YEARS IN THE 

let the thing drop, and thus pass over in silence as great 
a violation of truth and honesty as ever shone forth in 
the annals of popish fiction. The occurrence was 
published in some of the English papers, and sent out to 
Malta ; but the Maltese loved to be deceived, and they, 
to this day, believe in the possibility of a Protestant be- 
coming reconciled to popery, even after death ; for such 
must be the view, the worthy actor in the affair, Butler, 
had taken of it, in order to reconcile to his conscience 
the sanctioning of such a falsehood ; if indeed the man be 
troubled with any such thing as a conscience. 

This, I believe, was Father Butler's first attempt at 
making converts. I shall reldle another, and then be 
done with him. 

An English woman, who was engaged as a servant in 
an American merchant's house at Smyrna, Asia Minor, 
related the following story of her conversion to popery 
by the instrumentality of our Irish hero, Father Butler. 
The 94th regiment of infantry passing through Gosport, 
prior to its embarkation for -Gibraltar, she unfortunately 
became acquainted with an Irish sergeant of that regi- 
ment in this, her native town ; and, contrary to the advice 
of her parents and friends, was married to him. His first 
care, after marriage, was to endeavour to convert her, his 
wife, from her own religion to popery. This he at first 
attempted by fair means and gentleness; but finding these 
of no avail, he had recourse to violent measures and even 
stripes. On the regiment's being ordered to Gibraltar, 
he immediately brought her under the notice of a Spanish 
priest, who acts as chaplain to the British Roman Catho- 
lic soldiers of that garrison. The poor woman was a 
long time pestered with this man's arguments. The only 
thing she had to plead in excuse for not being immedi- 
ately converted, and in order to deprecate the anger of her 
husband, was her being unable to understand his barba- 
rous English. This plea served her but little, for her 
husband's ill treatment grew worse daily at her obstinacy, 
as he was pleased to call her attachment to the religion 
of her childhood : indeed the poor creature, having been 
blessed with a religious education, and being able to ren- 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 305 

der an account of the hope in her, had no inclination 
whatever to change it for a religion she justly thought 
erroneous. After the regiment's removal to Malta, she 
came into the fangs of our hero, Father Butler, and even 
then, though she could not plead in excuse the not under- 
standing his language, (though indeed his English is 
not the most Johnsonian, nor his pronunciation quite in 
accordance with the rules laid down by Walker,) yet she 
persisted in adhering to the religion of the Bible. The 
father's patience was worn out in catechising her, and 
her husband's in beating her, before she consented to 
deny her religion ; and it is remarkable, that her husband 
grew more cruel and more morose toward her since her 
removal to Malta, which she attributed to the fatherly 
advice of Father Butler. The latter one day told her in 
English plain enough, and which she could not misunder- 
stand, " that unless she made up her mind to embrace the 
Roman Catholic religion by a certain time," (fixing one 
or two weeks from the time of his speaking,) " that she 
may give up all hopes of ever living in peace with her 
husband." The poor woman thus combated on all sides, 
and having no one to recur to, for she feared her hus- 
band's anger, if she went to a Protestant clergyman, at 
last yielded, and added one more to the number of Butler's 
converts. She publicly renounced Protestantism at the 
Jesuit's church, which is now given up entirely to the use 
of the English soldiers, amid the applauses and clamours 
of the bigoted popish soldiers and others, who were pre- 
sent on the occasion. She nearly fainted at the foot of the 
altar, whither she went to receive the Eucharist, after 
pronouncing the words of renunciation ; her conscience 
probably smiting her for acting contrary to its dictates. 
All things considered, she showed herself a heroine, and 
deserved a better fate than to be joined to a bigoted papist. 
The wonder is that she held out so long, rather than that 
she yielded in the end. Her husband not long after her 
pseudo-conversion, being reduced to the ranks for some 
misdemeanor, gave himself up to drunkenness and de- 
bauchery, as much as a man under military discipline 
could, and, in the end fell a victim to the climate and his 

27* 



306 SIX YEARS IN THE 

own intemperance. She was after this thrown on the 
world in a strange country, but God opened a way for 
her. She was hired by the American gentleman, spoken 
of above, who was in Malta on business, in whose house 
at Smyrna she now lives, and to whom she related the 
story of her forced conversion, as the reader has just 
heard it. She has returned to her former creed, and gives 
evident signs of being a pious and faithful Christian. 
From the two foregoing examples, the reader may learn, 
of what kind popish conversions are in general, and what 
these are in particular, caused by the operations of the Hi- 
berno-Maltese hero. If the circumstances attending the 
conversions of the others, whom he has placed on his list of 
proselytes, were examined, it is probable, nay, it is certain, 
that they would be found on a par with the specimens we 
have given : each and every one of them the effect either 
of imposition, deception, force, or ignorance. 

This illiterate monk had also the impudence to enter 
into a doctrinal controversy with a Protestant missionary 
at Malta, of the name of Wilson — the same with him 
that discovered, and made public, the knavery of Doctor 
Naudi, as already related. The subject chosen was the 
" rule of faith," — a subject he knows as much about as 
his sanctified founder Dominick did of pure Christianity. 
He had, nevertheless, the presumption to open the con- 
troversy by a letter of five or six pages, addressed to Mr. 
Wilson, wherein he endeavoured to bring forward in his 
own uncoutli language the hackneyed arguments of popish 
theologians in favour of the Romanist's rule of faith — 
the church, the pope, and tradition, versus the Protes- 
tant's — the Bible alone. These arguments, so often con- 
futed, he endeavoured to revive and bring forward as his 
own, for the purpose of distinguishing himself among his 
fellow priests. Though Mr.Wilson saw from the be- 
ginning into his real motives, and judged him immediate- 
ly an adversary of little capability, and unable, on account 
of his natural stupidity and neglected education, to main- 
tain by any original arguments the ground he had taken ; 
yet hoping that it might be the means of opening the 
eyes of some benighted follower of popery, he did not 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 307 

disdain the weakness of his adversary, or refuse to accept 
his challenge. In answer to his interpolations of old 
schoolmen, he published a very neat little book, entitled 
" The Knights of the Hermitage, or an account of a fear- 
ful and bloody engagement between Sir Dominick Ritual 
and Sir Paul Text-book." This book is written in a 
serio-comic style : by the two knights are meant the popish 
ritual, under the name of Sir Dominick Ritual ; and the 
Bible, under that of Sir Paul Text-book. Mr. Wilson 
puts arguments in the mouth of his adversary, which no 
one that ever knew Padre Butler would suppose him 
guilty of using, so far are they above his understanding ; 
yet his adversary, to make up for what he wants in 
talents, generously supplies him with the arguments 
which he probably would use, if he were a man of learn- 
ing ; and then refutes them — in other words, he supplies 
him with weapons, and then fights him. And what 
return did he make so generous an enemy ? Did he 
answer him ? He did, but in a summary way, for he 
attempted to summon him to the court! He wanted to 
construe into a libel some expression, which Wilson used 
in the course of argument, and was determined to make it 
the subject of a prosecution. The book was printed in 
England, and though addressed to Butler, was designed 
for the use of all who might take a fancy to read it. 
Explaining in a note a certain passage, wherein mention 
is made of Butler's name, and which would appear ob- 
scure to the general reader, unacquainted with the cause 
of the controversy, the author says, " that he (Butler) is 
now vegetating among the self-denying Dominicans of 
Malta, and had recently stolen on the last moments of a 
dying Protestant (Muller, whose history has been given 
above, I suppose, he means) to try to have the honour 
of converting him to popery." The valorous knight, 
Sir Dominick, being unable to face his gallant adversary 
in single combat, and on equal terms, attempted to call 
to his assistance his auxiliaries, the lawyers and bailiffs 
of Malta, in order to be revenged for his signal defeat : 
not considering at the same time, that such, a step would 
dishonour him in the eyes of all honest knights, because 



308 SIX YEARS IN THE 

contrary to the established laws of single combat. I dare 
say, his signal defeat has taught him to consider well the 
strength of his adversaries, prior to engaging them, and, 
however his presumption may excite him to enter the lists 
against those superior to him in prowess, leaving out of 
the question the justice of their cause, to hide himself in 
future under the protecting wings of his own nothingness. 
But I have taken up more time in speaking of this curious 
compound of ignorance and presumption than I at first 
intended, not thinking the man worth the trouble of many 
remarks. It is not, however, he I intended to portray, 
but I have taken his person, and the rank he holds of 
chaplain to Irish soldiers in Malta, as a criterion, by 
which to judge of the general conduct and endowments 
of popish priests, wherever they are to be found ; of their 
roguery, their impositions, their manner of making con- 
verts ; in fine, of the fruits of the religion, of which they 
are the ministers, and which fruits, were they less bitter, 
would be a greater subject for wonder, considering the 
tree on which they grew, than that they are in actual 
conformity with the nature of their parent-branch ; though 
indeed the latter is no wonder at all. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Rev. Mr. Lowndes, Protestant missionary — Greek priests at Corfu — 
State of religion at Corfu — Popish clergy and archbishop — Con- 
versation with the popish archbishop — His attempt to wheedle me 
again into popery — My answer — Persecution by the popish priests, 
and its effect — Zante — Popish priests at Zante — Mr. Croggon, the 
Wesleyan missionary — Letter from Smyrna to Mr. Lowndes — 
The popish priests attempt to poison me — Effects of the poison — 
Departure from Zante — Arrival at Smyrna — Conclusion. 

After residing some months in Malta, I embarked on 
board a Maltese vessel for Corfu ; which island I reached 
after a pleasant voyage of ten days. I had letters of re- 
commendation to some of the English residents there, 
and through their interest, was soon in possession of a 
good income, derived from teaching Italian, Latin, and 






MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 309 

English. I kept myself as much as possible separate 
from the priests of the island, fearing that their machina- 
tions and influence might be of injury to me, if they 
came to the knowledge of my former profession. I 
formed a very close friendship with a truly evangelical 
missionary, the Rev. Mr. Lowndes, a long time residing 
on the island, to which he has been the means of render- 
ing very great services, by establishing schools, and 
instructing the people in the life-giving truths of the 
gospel. To that pious and Christian man I am very 
much indebted. From him I first learned what Chris- 
tianity really is. Though I made no secret of my So- 
cinian views on religious matters, he yet endeavoured, 
not by persecution and annoyance — the method practised 
by those I met at London — but by argument, and a candid 
perusal of the sacred volume, to convince me of my 
errors ; and I must certainly have been infatuated not to 
be persuaded. Persuaded, however, I was not, at that 
time, nor for a long time afterward. Indeed, it required 
the hand of God, and grace from above, to accomplish so 
great a work. Mr. Lowndes was also of very great ser- 
vice to me in a temporal point of view. He obtained for 
me many tuitions in the Greek families, and were it not 
for popish persecution, which broke out as soon as ever 
the priests discovered (by what means I am to this day 
ignorant) my former pr6fession, I would have remained 
at Corfu all my life. 

I have already, in a former part of this work, given a 
sketch of the state of religion at Corfu. The idol Spiri- 
dione is the god of the island, and from him are expected 
all the blessings, spiritual and temporal, which its inhabit- 
ants pray for. The Greek priests are proverbially ignorant 
and illiterate ; and, consequently, bigoted in the extreme 
to their own superstitious form of worship. Their 
supine ignorance is so well known, that the Latin inha- 
bitants, when they wish to express a more than usual 
degree of that mother of devotion, say of one of their 
acquaintances, " Egli e piu ignorante* che un papa Greco." 
(He is more ignorant than a Greek priest.) The greater 
part of the educated Corfuotes are naturalists. They do 



310 SIX YEARS IN THE 

not believe m Christianity under any form. Their reli- 
gion is that of nature, and they take no pains to hide 
that belief. Some of them, unable to bear the pangs of 
skepticism, flee for relief to the only place it can be 
found — to the Book of Life. Mr. Lowndes has pointed 
out to me a few of the principal inhabitants, who were 
really pious and scriptural Christians. These were at 
first infidels, and owe their conversion, next to God, to 
the pastoral care of that gentleman. 

The Latin clergy are comparatively more enlightened 
than the Greek. This is chiefly owing to their having 
received their education at Rome, or Bologna. But what 
they gain in knowledge, they lose in morality, for they 
are by many degrees inferior to the Greek clergy on this 
point. The greater part of the latter have wives and 
families. The Greek priests, who have not, are as re- 
markable for their scandalous and immoral lives, as the 
Latin priests themselves — a striking example of the 
effects of celibacy. 

There are in Corfu four popish churches, governed by 
an archbishop, who is nominated by the court of Rome, 
and paid by the Ionian government. The popish bishop 
who was in possession of that see in my time, held, as 
far as I could learn, the character of a pious and good 
man, that is, as far as piety and goodness can form the 
ingredients of a popish prelate ; of one, who must be 
either a fool or an impostor, in order to come up to the 
letter of his title. When it was discovered that I was a 
Roman Catholic clergyman, just escaped from monastic 
bondage, the archbishop immediately sent for me to his 
house. I thought it prudent to go to him. He inquired 
whether what he had heard from good authority concern- 
ing me was the truth? whether I had been a Capuchin 
friar ? I answered in the affirmative. He then told me, 
" that he was a long time wishing for an Irish priest to 
take charge of the souls (Jiis own words) of the British 
Roman Catholic 'soldiers, who were quartered in the 
island, and that if I wished to unite myself again to the 
holy Roman Catholic church, he would give me that 
chaplaincy, with a fixed salary." He then entered into a 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 311 

long theological discussion, or rather lecture, (for he was 
the only speaker,) on the truth and infallibility of the 
church of Rome, on the dangers of heresy, and on the 
miserable death of the heresiarchs. He endeavoured to 
bring before me the dangerous state of my own soul, if I 
should be taken off by the hand of death, while living in 
enmity with the church, and therefore (he added logically 
enough) with God. To all this I turned a deaf ear. I 
told him plainly, ** that my escape from popery was not 
the effect of whim, or caprice, but of a firm conviction 
of the fallacy of that system of religion ; and that, though 
I had not embraced as yet any other form of Christian 
worship, I would, nevertheless, rather trust to the religion 
of nature for the salvation of my soul, than to the errone- 
ous and absurd doctrines of popery. " I even added, 
when he urged his arguments on the infallibility of his 
church, and when he endeavoured to prove from some say- 
ing of Augustine — to be found — the Lord knows where,* 
— that the Scriptures themselves were based on that in- 
fallibility, which I deny, "that were the Scriptures based 
on no better authority than that of the pope, and of his 
church, this night I would sleep a disciple of Voltaire." 

My interview with the archbishop of Corfu passed 
over in this way, and we separated, mutually dissatisfied 
with each other. I very soon, however, found the effects 
which his anger had upon my emoluments, and my 
means of subsistence. He could not openly do me any 
injury, or cause it to be done to me, for he knew that 
he was not living under popish government, and that 
Lord Nugent, the High Commissary of the Ionian 
Islands, would not permit him to touch my person. Had 

* A hackneyed quotation from St. Augustine, or at least, one 
fathered upon that saint, is in great vogue with popish disputants. 
"Ne quidem ipsis scripturis crederem, nisi audoritas Romanas 
ecclesise me ad id excitaret" (Not even the Scriptures themselves 
would I believe, unless the authority of the Roman church moved 
me thereto,) is in the mouth of every popish school-boy. I wish 
their teachers would teach these boys, that it is a sophism- — what 
the logicians call " circulus vitiosus" to prove one thing by another ; 
to prove the truth of the church from the Scriptures, and then tha 
truth of the Scriptures themselves from the church. 



312 SIX YEARS IN THE 

1 been in any Italian city, and expressed myself in the 
way related, I would not long have enjoyed the light of 
heaven. Being unable then, to avenge himself by per- 
sonal violence, he resolved to starve me into a compliance 
with his wishes. He excited, or rather commanded his 
cursed priests to denounce me from their altars and pul- 
pits. He himself used his influence with those families, 
whose children I was instructing, to withdraw them from 
me. In fine, I found myself, after five months' residence 
at Corfu, without the means of subsistence, on account 
of the machinations, and through the influence of the 
popish priests — as cursed a set of bigoted, unchristian 
men, as ever devoted themselves to the propagation of the 
soul-destroying tenets of popery ; or as ever bowed their 
knee to the beast — the great idol of the western churches, 
who " sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as 
God." 

Finding myself fast sinking into a state of abject 
poverty, and unable to stem the torrent of persecution, in 
which the priests were endeavouring to overwhelm me, 
I resolved to leave Corfu, and go to Zante, where J hoped 
to be less exposed to popish rancour. Zante is one of 
the seven Ionian islands under British protection. The 
greater part of its inhabitants follow the Greek rite. 
There are, however, followers of the pope there, also — 
the remnant of old Venetian families, and the descendants 
of Maltese emigrants. There are, 1 believe about four- 
teen popish priests in the island. These are governed 
by a bishop, (whom I never saw,) who is subject to the 
archbishop of Corfu. Were the most infamous brothels 
of London and Paris to be searched, there could not be 
found in them fourteen ruffians to match the fourteen priests 
of Zante, in ruffianism, infamy, and debauchery. The 
priests of Corfu, nay, even those of Malta, are angels, 
when compared with them. Each of them publicly keeps 
a concubine for hi3 own individual use, besides now and 
then leaving her to pine alone, for the more welcome 
embraces of some fair penitent. Their whole time is 
spent in a coffee house, situated in the principal square, 
called " Piazza San Marco." In this coffee house they 



MONASTERIES OF ITALY, ETC. 313 

might be seen in fours, sixes, or tens, gaming, drinking, 
and carousing ; not once, nor ten times, but so constantly, 
as to acquire for the house the name of " caffe dei preti," 
or the priests' coffee house. The house itself has be- 
come so infamous through their frequenting it, that no 
respectable inhabitant of the island would be seen entering 
it. It is therefore frequented by idlers, and loungers 
alone ; by those who earn a subsistence by scheming and 
impositions — all fit companions for these adepts in schem- 
ing and imposture— -the priests. 

The Greek priests of Zante are for the most part 
married men. They have a greater show of decorum in 
their general conduct, than the popish priests ; and some 
of them really are, judging at least from outward appear- 
ances, seriously impressed with the important duties of 
their calling. If there be any tincture of Christianity at 
all in the island, it must be looked for among some few of 
the Greek priests, though, to be sure, nearly stifled by the 
superstitions, for which the Greek as well as the popish 
church is remarkable. There is also a Wesleyan Me- 
thodist missionary, of the name of Croggon, residing in 
the island, but his influence is very small. Indeed, I 
believe he has no influence at all, for he is not well liked, 
being quite unfit for a missionary. At least, for the short 
acquaintance I had with him, I was never able to dis- 
cover any of the qualifications which induced the Wes- 
leyan Missionary Society to send him to Zante ; and not 
one of those who had any intimate acquaintance with 
him, did I ever hear speak of him, as a man worthy of 
being respected, or as desirous of ameliorating the moral 
or intellectual condition of the people. He was ignorant 
of every language but English. Greek, he attempted to 
smatter, but scarcely made himself intelligible. It may, 
then, naturally be expected, that the blessed doctrines of 
the reformation made but little progress, when taught by 
so very unskilful a teacher. 

Having consulted with my friend Mr. Lowndes, and 
laid open to him the state to which I was driven by the 
persecutions of the Corfu priests, he advised me to go to 
Zante, giving me at the same time a letter of introduction 

28 



314 SIX TEARS IN THE 

to Mr. Croggon, the only person he knew residing there. 
Zante being but a short distance from Corfu — less than 
twenty-four hours' sail — I arrived there the day after my 
departure from Corfu. What happened after my arrival, 
and why I left it after a very short stay, will be best 
learned from a letter I wrote from Smyrna to the Rev. 
Mr. Lowndes at Corfu. I find the copy of it among my 
other papers, and shall transcribe it word for word. It 
will show of what popery is capable now-a-days, as well 
as formerly, and that the diabolical principle, " the end 
justifies the means," is still practised in every place 
where popery prevails. I myself am a living example 
of the truth of this assertion, having barely escaped with 
life from the poisonous cup presented by the hand of a 
popish priest, as will be seen by those who take the 
trouble to read the following letter. 

Smyrna, 20th December, 1834. 

Rev. and dear sir, — Gratitude for the many favours 
received from your hands, united to an ardent wish of 
returning my heartfelt thanks, makes me embrace the 
present opportunity of writing by a ship, about to depart 
from this port for Malta, whence I hope this letter will 
find its way to you. You will surely be surprised to 
hear, that I am at Smyrna, and will wonder, what in- 
duced me to proceed there. Have patience, dear sir, 
and I shall tell you all, the how, the ivhen, and the where' 
fore. 

You may, perhaps, remember, indeed I am sure you 
do remember, that being unable to hold out any longer 
against the unchristian-like (though sufficiently popish- 
like) persecutions of the Corfu priests, I determined upon 
a change of place, and, by your advice, proceeded to 
Zante. Upon my arrival I sought Mr. Croggon, to 
whom you had kindly given me a letter of introduction. 
He endeavoured to procure me some scholars ; and, 
although a gentleman of very little influence in the island, 
(the reason of which you know yourself,) he yet suc- 
ceeded so far, as to place me in a way of living indepen- 
dently, if priestly persecutions would permit me. I had 
not been very long at Zante, when priestly machinations 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 315 

again broke out, though not in so open, yet in a more 
insidious manner than at Corfu. I had determined, from 
my first arrival, to keep myself clear of all communication 
with the Roman Catholic clergy of the place, and had so 
far succeeded as to baffle all their attempts, though many 
were made, of becoming acquainted with me. Finding 
all their manoeuvres without success, they changed their 
mode of attack, and fixed upon a plan, which, for its base- 
ness, would do honour to any of the most renowned 
ministers of Satan's empire. And what do you think 
this plan was ? Nothing less than to deprive me of life 
and honour at the same time. They hired a Roman Ca- 
tholic non-commissioned officer, belonging to a British 
regiment quartered .in the island, and having first worked 
on his weak, superstitious mind, through the organ of 
confession, they persuaded him that he would do a meri- 
torious action, and worthy of a plenary indulgence, if he 
deprived me of life, or at least devised some method of 
driving me from Zante. They represented me, at the 
same time, to him, as an excommunicated person, and an 
apostate from " our holy mother, the church." This 
certainly will appear incredible to you, as it has also 
appeared to me, when first told of it. Though well ac- 
quainted with the existence of such an abominable theory 
in the church of Rome, I yet could hardly believe it pos- 
sible, that the priests, monsters as they are, would dare 
put it in practice in a country boasting British protection, 
and, therefore, unused to such abominations. Indeed, 
the mind can hardly conceive it possible, that human pre- 
judice and bigotry could go so far as to lay down as a 
principle of morality, that " to deprive a fellow creature of 
life is a meritorious act in the sight of God ;" for, how- 
ever popish theologians might endeavour to cover over 
the plain words by introducing the clause " when the 
good of the church requires it" &c. the theory, in itself, 
is abominable, and the practice of it always amounts to 
" murder." It would seem, that some popish teachers 
themselves are ashamed of it, from their denying its very 
existence, which they would not do, if they could, in any 
way, defend or excuse it. — But to return. 



316 SIX TEARS IN THE 

The soldier, fortified with a general absolution before- 
hand, devised I know not what method of becoming 
acquainted with me. If I am not mistaken, he called at 
my lodgings one morning, and introduced himself by 
saying, that he had three children whom he wished that 
I should attend one hour every day, to teach them Italian. 
He promised me, at the same time, eight dollars a month, 
as a compensation. I first doubted his ability to pay so 
much, but farther inquiry satisfied me that he had the 
means, having, besides his pay as a non-commissioned 
officer, another salary from some government employ- 
ment. Thus thrown off my guard, and not having the 
least suspicion (and how could I ?) of any evil intended 
me, I frequently met with the aforesaid man. One day, 
in particular, he invited me to accompany him to a 
friend's house. I consented. He conducted me to a 
house, not very distant from the " cqffe dei preti," (the 
priests' coffee house,) and to my great astonishment, 
ushered me into a room, where the first thing that 
attracted my notice was four or five priests carousing ; 
some of them in a beastly state of intoxication. It was 
now too late to retreat. They prevailed upon me to sit 
down, and as an introduction to conversation, handed me 
a glass of — what I then thought was wine, but which I 
afterward discovered to my cost to be — poison, with a 
colouring of wine. I drank it — and in a few moments 
after became insensible. I recollect nothing farther of 
what occurred. The next morning I awoke in a burning 
fever, which continued without intermission for ten days. 
I was, as I was afterward informed, carried in a state of 
insensibility to my lodgings. The garrison physician, 
who was a friend of mine, being sent for, he immediately 
gave it as his opinion, that I had been poisoned. To his 
skill and treatment, I owe, under God, my life. It was 
well for me that the poison was so powerful, and that it 
caused immediate insensibility ; for had it been less rapid 
in its operations, I would have retired to bed, without 
any suspicion of the real cause of my sickness, and then 
sunk into an eternal sleep. 

The civil authorities of Zante wished to set on foot an 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 317 

inquiry on the subject, but I begged that it might be 
dropped, being unwilling to render myself an object of 
curiosity, and fearing other attempts on my life. In 
about fifteen days I found myself sufficiently recovered 
to depart from the island — a thing I had before deter- 
mined upon. I passed on, accordingly, to Cephalonia, 
where I remained but a few days. From Cephalonia I 
went to Patrass, and thence to Nauplion, or Napoli di 
Romania. Not being able to procure employment in the 
latter city, and not having the wit to live without it, I re- 
solved to leave the civilized world altogether, and try my 
fortune among the Turks. A vessel departing for Smyrna, 
(Asia Minor,) presented an opportunity of putting ,my 
design in execution. I took a passage in her, and with- 
out any thing remarkable having occurred during the 
voyage, I arrived safely in this city, (Smyrna.) I am 
now residing in the house of the Rev. W. B. Lewis, an 
Irish clergyman, and missionary to the Jews of this city. 
He has treated me with exceedingly great kindness, and 
I hope, through his influence, to be shortly in a way of 
being useful to myself and others. 

This, my dear sir, is a brief narrative of what occurred 
since my departure from Corfu, and of the how, the why, 
and the ivherefore, I left Zante. A great change has also 
taken place in my spiritual concerns. You knew me 
when bordering on deism, and you had also the conside- 
ration to attribute such a state of mind, rather to the 
absurd doctrines of the church from which I had lately 
escaped, than to any innate, or natural depravity, peculiar 
to myself. You judged right. The transition from 
popery to Christianity is rarely, if ever, the work of a 
day. It requires some time to heal the wounds inflicted 
on the mind by popish superstitions. Now, I trust, how- 
ever, that, without presumption, I can say, U I have found 
a Saviour" I acknowledge the hand of God, even in 
his chastisements. Perhaps he has made use of the 
above sufferings, only to bring me to a closer union with 
himself. My reliance upon his mercy is so strong, that 
I would not now shrink from the whole court of Rome, 
with the pope at its head, if it should think proper to 

28* 



318 SIX YEARS IN THE 

begin a crusade against my insignificance. Neither pope 
nor popery, priest nor priestcraft, shall separate me from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I 
conclude then, protesting myself 

Your obliged, humble servant, 

S. I. Mahoney* 

From the foregoing letter the reader will be able to 
judge of the difficulties into which my renunciation of 
popery had plunged me. He will also acquire a know- 
ledge of the manner in which the pope's myrmidons, the 
priests, treat those whose consciences oblige them to 
separate from their communion. Many other instances 
could be given, equal and even surpassing in heinousness 
that by which my own life was endangered ; but as this 
book has already reached a greater bulk than was at first 
intended, I shall pass them over in silence for the present. 
Before I conclude, however, I must say a few words, on 
the state of religion in general, and more especially on the 
state of the popish religion at Smyrna. 

The Greek church is that which, next to Mahometan- 
ism, counts the greater number of adherents at Smyrna. 
The Greek priests of Smyrna are generally better educat- 
ed, and more enlightened, than priests of the same church 
in the Morea, and islands of the Archipelago ; they are, 
however, equally superstitious, and sunk into the same 
indifference for the Scriptures which distinguishes the 
latter. There are many schools kept by priests, wherein 
the children are taught to read and write. The Scrip- 
tures are also read in some of them ; but the latter are 
chiefly under the direction of Protestant missionaries. 
The Greek clergy of Smyrna is in general a very moral 
body of men. The greater part of those composing it 
is married ; which perhaps is the reason that very few 
examples of public scandal — so very frequent in popish 
countries — are afforded by priests. 

The pope has also his adherents at Smyrna. There 
are two convents of Latin monks there : one called " il 
convent o Franpese," (French convent,) belonging to the 
respectable order of Capuchins ; the other, to the no less 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 319 

respectable one of the " Zoccolonti," or wooden-shod 
Franciscans. In the latter, the popish missionary bishop 
resides. He is a Frenchman, and is possessed of as little 
Christianity, and as much bigotry and superstition, as 
distinguished his countrymen before the memorable revo- 
lution of '89, and which led them, in the end, to establish 
by law the worship of the "goddess of reason" The 
monks in Smyrna come up, in point of morality, with 
their brethren at Jerusalem ; a description of whom has 
been already given. Popery is indeed the same in every 
place. Popish practices and popish doctrines have the 
same demoralizing effect on the lives of the followers of 
popery at Rome, as at Jerusalem ; at Smyrna, as in Ire- 
land. The monks make use of the same arts for extort- 
ing money from the deluded people in one place as in the 
other. Monks indeed, wherever they might be found, 
may take for their motto, the Italian verses : 

Con arte, e con inganno 
Si vive la meta dell'anno; 
Con inganno, e con arte 
Si vive l'altra parte. 

By art and by deceit 
One half the year, we eat ; 
By deceit and by art 
We eat, the remaining part.* 

The monks of Smyrna are, for the most part, Italians, 
or Smyrniotes. I knew one of the latter, who studied 
at Rome, and whom I saw afterward at Smyrna. His 
name is " Padre Giovanni Battista," (Father John Bap- 
tist.) While a student at Rome, he was distinguished 
for nothing more than for his asinine stupidity. He has, 
however, since his arrival at Smyrna, acquired the name of 
a great preacher, and is esteemed highly by some of the 
people ; but more especially by his fair penitents, to some 
of whom he has been the cause (and I know it from good 
authority) of giving the title of " Mamma," a title similar 

* The reader will have the goodness to excuse the above abortive 
attempt at poetry. The gods have not made me a poet, nor do I lay 
any pretensions to the title of one. 



320 SIX YEARS IN THE 

to his own of " Padre," thus proving himself a father in 
the double sense of the word; as a priest, and as it is 
received in common parlance. Indeed, I doubt much, 
if there be a popish priest in the world, who is not more 
entitled to the endearing title of " Father" than their 
friends give them credit for. 

It is now full time to bring this work to a close, for 
indeed I fear, that the reader is already as tired of read- 
ing as I myself am of relating the abominations of pope- 
ry, and of her soul-deceiving ministers. Let it not be 
supposed, that it is against the latter, as men, that this 
work is directed. No, it is not with a view of bringing 
odium on priests, as men or individuals, that these pages 
have been put together. It is against their doctrines, and 
against their practices — the necessary consequences of 
such doctrines. I love a priest as well as I love any 
other of my fellow creatures ; but then, I do not love him 
for his being a priest, but because he is a man. Were I 
to look on him only as a priest, I should be rather in- 
clined to hate him, as a personification of dishonesty ; for 
I cannot conceive it possible, that an honest man could 
remain a popish priest, that is, a teacher of false doctrines 
and deceiver of the people. There are, perhaps, some 
priests who are really convinced of the truth of the doc- 
trines they teach, and of the lawfulness of the practices 
which are peculiarly the church of Borne' s own ; but 
these, I fear, are few, very few in number. I have not, 
during the many years I was domesticated with the popish 
clergy, ever known one of them, whose talents were above 
mediocrity, a believer in the absurdities, which, as a 
priest, he was obliged to teach the people. They were, 
for the most part, infidels ; and those who were not infi- 
dels were Protestants, really and truly protesting in their 
own minds against the abominations of popery, with as 
much sincerity as the most zealous Christians have ever 
done. Personal safety obliged them to keep their 
abhorrence of popery to themselves ; but if they had the 
use of their own free will, they would soon throw off, as 
many have done, when an opportunity presented, the 
outside of popery, and declare themselves gospel Chris- 



MONASTERIES OP ITALY, ETC. 321 

tians. The church of Rome, then, according to my 
opinion, is wholly upheld by the secular arm, in those 
countries where she is the established church, and by 
some few men of talents, who, though not believing in 
« her doctrines, yet defend her, because they get a sub- 
sistence by her. In those countries where she is not the 
established church, she is upheld by the ignorance of the 
people, the cunning of the priests, and last, not least, 
by the persecutions of Protestant governments. Ire- 
land will serve as an example^ of the latter method of 
supporting popery. Will any one suppose, that it was 
through love for the pope, or his religion, that the Irish 
resisted, and still resist all attempts to make them gospel 
Christians ? I would as soon believe that the church of 
Rome is the church of Christ, as believe any such thing ! 
The true and only support of popery in Ireland was the 
persecuting spirit of Protestants ; that is, of those, who, 
disguised under the name of Protestants, but who were 

really little better than d Is, came to butcher and 

slaughter the unfortunate Irish, for the sake of obtaining 
possession of their properties, or depriving them of their 
emoluments. The penal code, that disgrace to England, 
has then been of more real service to the pope and to the 
Irish priests, than all the bulls the former issued from 
the Vatican, or than all the curses the latter pronounced 
from their altars. "V\%en the people were oppressed, to 
whom could they more naturally fly for consolation than 
to a minister of religion ? This riveted the people's 
chains, and the priests' power grew stronger, according 
as the oppressions received from their Protestant task- 
masters grew more insupportable. Oppression and per- 
secution are then the real causes, to which the adherence 
of Ireland to popery must be attributed, and not, by any 
means, because the Irish love popery for its own sake— 
a thing impossible, for they do not understand it. 



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